Keel-laying of first Arctic floating power unit with RITM-200 reactors held in China
Before the end of 2023 the hull is to be delivered to Russia for outfitting and installation of power equipment
Keel-laying of the first floating nuclear power unit (FNPU) for Arctic operation with RITM-200 reactors has been held in China. The barge will be 140 meters long and 30 meters wide. Its weight without equipment – 9,549 tonnes, with equipment ‒ 19,088 tonnes. Before the end of 2023 the hull is to be delivered to Russia for outfitting and installation of power equipment, says Atomenergomash, mechanical engineering division of ROSATOM).
It is the first of the four 106 MW FNPUs intended for operation in the water area of Cape Nagleynyn in the Chukotka Autonomous District. An agreement for supply of four FNPUs was signed by Atomenergomash in 2021. Due to the tight schedule of the project and high loading of domestic shipyards it was decided to have the hulls for the first two units built at a foreign shipyard. A shipyard for construction of the third and the fourth FNPUs will be determined in the fourth quarter of 2022.
According to Andrey Nikipelov, General Director of Atomenergomash, under this project the company acts as a supplier of an end product, floating power units, which is a new role for Atomenergomash. “This project begins a history of a range of FPUs with various capacity and purposes, for Arctic and tropical operation, which Atomenergomash can offer in the market and which have a strong potential for implementation of large-scale industrial projects and exports,” he said.
The construction of RITM-200C reactors for all the four FPUs is underway in Russia at the facilities of ROSATOM’s mechanical engineering division. Designed by Nizhny Novgorod based OKBM Afrikantov, they are produced by SpetsStal Association near Saint-Petersburg and then undergo machining and assembling at ZiO-Podolsk near Moscow.
JSC Atomenergomash, ROSATOM’s mechanical engineering division is Russia’s largest power engineering company. The holding supplies reactor island and turbine island equipment to all NPPs of Russian design, manufactures equipment for LNG projects and waste processing industry, develops comprehensive solutions for energy/oil&gas/shipbuilding and other industries. The company’s technologies and equipment ensure operation of about 15% of NPPs in the world and 40% of TPPs in the Russian Federation and CIS countries. Atomenergomash consolidates the leading research, engineering and production facilities in Russia and abroad.
Related link:
International tender to be announced to build substructures for two floating power units >>>>
