Rosatom: Environmentalists praise world’s only floating NPP Akademik Lomonosov for eco-friendliness

Pevek, October 13 - Neftegaz.RU. Rosatom’s floating nuclear power plant in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug has been visited by a public expedition for the very 1st time.

Led by Alexey Yekidin, a leading researcher at the Institute of Industrial Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the expedition united ecologists, academics and representatives of public associations.

Participants were tasked with collecting and analysing data on the environmental and radiation safety of the floating NPP, as well as assessing the plant and its overall operation and communicating their findings to the public.
The environmentalists carried out measurements both at the station itself and in the surrounding area, as well as in Pevek.

Their findings showed that background radiation in both the vicinity of the floating NPP and in Pevek arise exclusively from natural sources: i.e., from natural radionuclides and cosmic radiation, and that the average value of said radiation does not exceed 0.12 μSv/h in either location.

Aleksey Yekidin said:

• More than 20 measurements were taken in the FNPP’s industrial area, as well as in the surrounding area and in Pevek and no artificial radionuclides were found at the surveyed sites
• It has, therefore, been concluded that the operation of the floating NPP does not negatively impact the region’s radioecological situation

Kirill Toropov, deputy director of the local branch of Rosenergoatom, said:

• Not only did the arrival of the floating NPP introduce an additional source of energy, it opened a new chapter in the development of SMR technologies in the region’s energy sector and in that of the country as a whole
• Since its commissioning, the FNPP has already established itself as a reliable and innovative source of thermal and electric energy
• One cannot help but notice its positive contribution to improving the environmental situation, both in Pevek itself (with a 30% reduction in soot emissions from the Chaunskaya CHPP) and in the surrounding bodies of water (as evinced by the restoration of flora and fauna in the Chaunskaya Bay and the return of seals and other species of marine animals)

Equipped with 2 KLT-40S reactors, the FNPP is a source of 70 MW’s worth of electrical energy and 50 Gcal/h’s worth of thermal energy.
It comprises the FPU Akademik Lomonosov and onshore infrastructure designed to supply heat and electricity from the FPU to consumers.

The NPP’s operation also made it possible to prevent more than 300 000 tonnes of atmospheric CO₂ equivalent emissions in 2019 and 2020.