Although the widespread environmental and safety concerns, the Russia’s floating nuclear power plant officially started to supply electricity to a remote port in Siberia. Specifically, the state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced that the electricity production begun on Thursday 19 December.
As Rosatom further informed, the “Akademik Lomonosov” produced its first electricity into the “isolated Chaun-Bilibino network” located in the port of Pevek, in Russia’s Far East area.
On the eve of the holidays, the plant’s first volts turned on the fairy lights of the Pevek’s Christmas tree in the central square.
After its connection to the grid, Akademik Lomonosov becomes the world’s first nuclear power plant based on SMR-class technology to generate electricity. This is a remarkable milestone for both the Russian and the world’s nuclear energy industry. This is also a major step in establishing Pevek as the new energy capital of the region.
…Rosatom’s Director General Alexey Likhachev noted.
Moreover, several scientists, nuclear energy experts and environmentalists from all over the world have welcomed the project.
For hard-to-reach regions, with a climate that is simultaneously too harsh to support the use of renewable energies and too fragile to continue its heavy dependence on fossil fuels, small nuclear, including floating plants, is the only answer. Akademik Lomonosov is the first step towards demonstrating its potential for decarbonization of the Arctic and beyond.
… Kirsty Gogan, Head of Energy for Humanity, an NGO (London) said.
For the records, in order to connect the FPU generators to the network, parameter synchronization with the coastal network was a demand. This was achieved after the completed establishment of the onshore facilities,ensuring the transfer of electricity from the FPUs to Chukotka’s high voltage networks.
A lot of work was also needed it to carried out on constructing the heat supply networks, while connecting the FNPP to Pevek’s heat network will be totally finished in 2020.
Concluding, once the FNPP start its commercial operation, it will be Russia’s 11th nuclear power plant. While at the same time, it will be the region’s first time in nuclear energy history, that two nuclear power plants the “Akademik Lomonosov FNPP” and the “Bilibino NPP”, operate in the same region.
