Murmansk, May 21– Neftegaz.RU. Akademik Lomonosov, the nuclear floating power unit (FPU), has been moored in Murmansk where it was towed from St.Petersburg to be loaded with fuel, Rosatom reported on May 19, 2018.
Once loaded with fuel Lomonosov will be towed to the town of Pevek in Chukotka (Russian Far East) where, upon connection to the grid, it will become the world’s so far only operational floating nuclear power plant and the northernmost nuclear installation in the world.
It will replace a coal-fired power plant and an aging nuclear power plant Bilibino supplying over 50,000 people with electricity and reducing carbon footprint in the Arctic by tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
A welcome ceremony took place at the pier of Atomflot. The ceremony was attended by CEO of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev, Chukotka governor Roman Kopin, Murmansk deputy governor Eugene Nikora, Deputy Director General of Rosatom Aleхander Lokshin, Rosenergoatom Director General Andrey Petrov and Atomflot Director General Vyacheslav Ruksha.
Alexey Likhachev commented: «We have successfully towed the power unit, not yet loaded with nuclear fuel, to Murmansk and are going to fully launch here this unique project, which was only made possible thanks to cooperation of many companies. Akademic Lomonosov is an unparalleled piece of engineering by Russian scientists. It is a 1st-of-a-kind, reference project for mobile medium capacity range nuclear power units, a product we expect to be in growing demand in the coming years».
Nuclear fuel will be loaded into Akademik Lomonosov’s reactors in Murmansk in the coming months. In 2019 nuclear FPU Akademik Lomonosov is expected be towed to the sea port of Pevek.
Rosatom is the only company in the world to offer integrated clean energy solutions across the nuclear supply chain and beyond, including the design, build and operation of nuclear power stations, uranium mining, conversion and enrichment, the supply of nuclear fuel, decommissioning, spent fuel storage and transportation and safe nuclear waste disposal.
