In the next few years, through joint efforts of the United Shipbuilding Corporation and the state-owned concern Rosatom, it is planned to complete the construction of the first Russian floating nuclear thermal power plant (FNPP). Experts believe that in the very near future, the export of floating nuclear power plants will be able to make up most of the revenues of both organizations. However, at the same time, there are certain doubts as to whether these corporations will be able to provide such stations at least to Russia.
First of all, it should be noted that the very idea of building a floating nuclear power plant is not new. The first idea came to the mind of the Americans, who in the early 80s of the last century set out to build 8 such floating stations in America, the total capacity of which was supposed to reach 1150 MW. The project was estimated at $ 180 million, but it was not successful. The reason for the failure was declared to be the economic inefficiency of the stations. However, it is obvious that the protests of the residents of the coastal regions, who were not very happy about the prospect of having an atomic time bomb “at hand”, also played a big role in this. A loud scandal broke out, which had very interesting consequences - the floating nuclear power plants became interested in the Soviet Union. At the end of the 80s, the Soviets in the country were well aware that they were the leaders in the production of nuclear reactors, but by and large there was nowhere to put them. Therefore, the idea arose to use decommissioned submarines to heat northern coastal cities. But, fortunately, this idea was soon abandoned, because the reactors of that time were not reliable, and the cost of such energy did not justify itself. It seemed that floating stations were abandoned forever, but here at the beginning of the new century, the floating nuclear power plant was remembered in Russia.
The plans for the joint construction of the floating nuclear power plant were announced by the President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Andrei Dyachkov, immediately after the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the Baltic Shipyard (where, in fact, the station is being built). According to Dyachkov, the prime minister allotted ten days to settle all the formalities and come to a common vision of further work, as well as their cost.
If we talk about the technical characteristics of the floating nuclear power plant, then this is a fairly profitable structure with significant potential. Roughly speaking, this is a large battery that can last up to 40 years (there are 3 cycles of 12 years each, between which it is necessary to reload the reactor facilities). The base of the station is made up of two KLT-40S reactors, which were used in Soviet times on Soviet nuclear icebreakers and submarines. They are capable of generating up to 70 MW of electrical energy per hour, so it is advisable to install them in places where it is not possible or meaningless to build large power plants that use other sources of electricity for operation.
The floating nuclear power plant has one more positive property - it can also be used as a mobile desalination plant. If 50 years ago the lack of fresh water was primarily associated with the African continent, then three decades ago the states of the Middle East faced similar problems. Moreover, in the near future the shortage of fresh water may become the No. 1 problem in the world. That is why, back in 1995, the volume of desalination equipment on the world market was estimated at three billion dollars. At the same time, the IAEA predicts that in the future these volumes will only increase, and by 2015 they will be estimated at 12 billion. A floating nuclear power plant is capable of desalinating about 40-240 thousand tons of water per day, while the cost of this water will be much lower than that which was obtained using sources operating on other types of fuel. Therefore, the authors of the project do not deny that they intend to make good money at such stations.
But at the present time all this is possible only theoretically. On the practical side of the issue, the first station of this type was supposed to be launched last year. But in the course of its construction, certain difficulties arose. Thus, the construction of the station began at the Sevmash plant in 2006, but the pace of construction did not suit the management of Rosatom. Therefore, further work was carried out already at the Baltic Shipyard. But there were many problems further. The plant itself was under the control of the USC, whose management announced that it was ready to complete the construction, but this requires about 7 billion rubles. Rosatom offered only 1 billion less. Therefore, at the moment, according to experts, the readiness of the floating nuclear power plant is no more than 65 percent. Nevertheless, analysts have no doubt that within the next three years the Akademik Lomonosov station will be ready, that is, fully completed, tested, and quite possibly even delivered to the place of power generation.
The management of Rosatom declares that it intends to launch the serial production of floating nuclear power plants. But the problem lies not in their desires and aspirations, but in whether the Russian shipbuilding industry is capable of building the required number of floating nuclear power plants so that they are produced on time and of high quality. In this issue, not so much funding plays an important role as the physical capabilities of shipbuilders to build floating stations in series, because construction can be carried out only at two enterprises: the Baltic Shipyard, which built all nuclear icebreakers in Soviet times, and at Sevmash, which is engaged in the construction of nuclear power plants. submarines. Each of these shipyards constantly has full volumes of defense orders and orders for the construction of ships of the Arctic class. Therefore, in all likelihood, the production of floating nuclear power plants will not be a priority at these enterprises. And this may lead to the fact that there will be no place on the world market for Russian floating nuclear thermal power plants, because Japanese, Korean and Chinese nuclear projects may well appear.
It should also be noted that at present India is interested in floating stations, which, according to some sources, intends to invest about $ 140-180 million in the construction of the first installation. In addition to her, China is also interested in the project, which has a desire to manufacture hulls for them. Indonesia, the states of the African continent and the Persian Gulf are not lagging behind these states.
Still, there are problems. And last but not least, the cornerstone is the very significant financing of the project, as mentioned above. In addition, the big issue is the safety of the floating nuclear power plant. The developers, of course, claim that the project was subjected to a strict state environmental review and received a license from Gosatomnadzor. In addition, the security system at the station has been significantly strengthened. However, there are opponents who quite reasonably note that funds should be allocated from local budgets for the construction of structures to ensure the safety of the plant, and the question is whether there will be enough money in the place of use for this.
Another important problem is related to the use of uranium. Its enrichment in reactors reaches 90 percent, although the developers insist that this figure will remain no more than 60 percent in the floating nuclear power plant. However, even this number is quite enough to interest extremists, if, moreover, take into account that the stations will be located in not the most stable regions in the world.
Thus, it is impossible to assert that the FNPP project is extremely positive, since it also has a number of negative aspects, and it is too early to talk about its future.
At the same time, Russian officials are quite optimistic about the future. So, in particular, according to Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, the construction of floating nuclear thermal power plants is promising not only for Russia, but also for the world as a whole. He also notes that the Russians have advantages over other manufacturers, thanks to the reliability and safety of Soviet reactor facilities. Kiriyenko is convinced that floating stations are much safer than land-based nuclear power plants, because they have a large number of levels of protection.
Kiriyenko is fully supported by the deputy general director of Rosenergoatom Sergei Krysov, who notes that 20 states have already become interested in the Russian project, and Russia is already ready to start negotiations with them, but only after the first power unit is ready. According to him, the great interest is due to the fact that the construction period for floating nuclear power plants is much shorter than that of ground-based ones. In addition, the floating station is capable of withstanding a storm of 7-8 points.
Therefore, at present, in order to successfully implement the project in the world, a working group of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rosatom and Rosenergoatom is analyzing international legislation and the internal legal framework of some states. And what will come of all this - time will tell …
