Kursk Nuclear Power Plant
A government agency in Russia has published a draft plan for the expansion of nuclear power in the country that calls for construction of as many as 34 new reactors by 2042.
The Unified Energy System of Russia recently released the plan (translated from Russian), writing that it is open for consultation for the next two weeks. The plan, which is subject to government approval, accounts for state-owned Rosatom’s proposal for up to 37 new units. The draft plan has information about both large-scale and small reactors. The units could replace some existing reactors; others would be in new sites. Some of the included in the draft plan already are under construction.
The plan calls for an increase of nearly 5% in nuclear power’s share of Russia’s electricity, from 18.9% at present to 23.5% in 2042.
Construction at 11 Sites
Strana Rosatom, a Russian news service, said the reactors could be built at 11 sites. The plan includes replacement stations at the Kursk, Kola, and Smolensk nuclear power plants. It also includes “a fourth-generation energy complex with a BREST-OD-300 reactor,” according to the news service. That reactor reportedly is a demonstration power unit at Seversk that is planned for commissioning in 2028.
The plan includes construction of two VVER-optimum reactors with total capacity of 2.4 GW at a power plant in Novocherkassk. Power stations with RBN reactors are also in the plan. Two units with total capacity of 2.5 GW would be built at the Yuzhnouralsk facility in the Chelyabinsk region. Four units with total capacity of just more than 5 GW are slated for operation at the Krasnoyarsk plant, in Krasnoyarsk Krai region.
An RBN-optimum reactor is slated for construction at the Reftinskaya nuclear plant in the Sverdlovsk region.
Increasing Nuclear’s Share of Generation
Alexei Likhachev, Rosatom’s director general, in a statement said, “As part of implementing the order of the President of the Russian Federation to achieve a share of nuclear energy of 25% by 2045 in the country’s energy mix, a large-scale programme for the construction of nuclear power units has been implemented since 2007. The new general scheme provides for the construction of 28 GW of new nuclear power generation by 2042. Having implemented such an ambitious task, we will be able to provide the country’s regions with clean energy for decades to come and create a basis for stable economic growth.”
The report said new plants also are planned in Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais. The news service said those would be “two-block nuclear power plants with WWER-S/600 reactors with a total capacity of 1,200 MW.” A smaller plant with four RITM-400 reactors and total capacity of 320 MW is planned in Norilsk.
The new capacity includes four VVER-TOI units that would be commissioned at the Kursk II NPP between 2025 and 2034, along with three VVER-S/600 units at the Kola NPP between 2035 and 2040. It also includes two new VVER units at the Smolensk NPP that would be placed into service from 2033 to 2035.
Source: Power Magazine