News
18.09.2023
Strategy. According to Rosatom Chief Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom has long been present in Russia’s Far East and is willing to expand its projects in the region. Speaking at a session of the Eastern Economic Forum, he highlighted that the world’s only floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov had been put in operation in Chukotka not long before and that this unparalleled technology had aroused customer interest. “In addition to the construction of four floating nuclear power units for the Baimsky GOK mining site, we see demand for another 15 floating reactors in the Arctic. The region offers prospects for building both on-shore small modular reactors and large nuclear power plants,” Alexey Likhachev noted.
Sakhalin. Rosatom, H2 Tech, H2 Clean Energy, and Gazprom Neft will join efforts to design and build a low-carbon hydrogen plant on Sakhalin Island. A memorandum to this effect was signed by the parties in the margins of the Eastern Economic Forum. Hydrogen is planned to be produced by steam methane reforming. The annual output is expected at 36,500 tons and may be increased after 2030. Hydrogen will be sold to the domestic market and exported to the Asia Pacific countries. Besides, Rosatom, the Government of the Sakhalin Region, and the Sakhalin State University agreed to jointly develop pilot hydrogen projects and train professionals for the hydrogen industry.
Yakutia. The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, Yakutia, Rosatom and Seligdar intend to expand cooperation on the Kyuchus cluster of tin, gold and other solid mineral deposits. The source of energy for the development of promising deposits in the Arctic part of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) will be a RITM-200 small modular reactor in the town of Ust-Kuiga. The site was licensed in April 2023; the first facility of the nuclear plant’s external infrastructure was completed in August.
Northern Sea Route. Over 23 million tons of cargo was transported on the NSR for the first eight months of 2023. The traffic grew 1.5% year-on-year, said Vladimir Panov, Rosatom’s special representative for the Arctic development. “Cargoes from the Baltic started moving eastwards to Asia. There is a high probability that the traffic on the NSR will hit a new high this year. Work is underway to set up an international NSR container line,” Vladimir Panov said.
Chukotka. Rosatom is working on a power supply project for the Sovinoye gold deposit. The project provides for the construction of a 10 MW small modular reactor Shelf-M. Gold miner ARMZ and RAOS (part of Rosatom) signed a cooperation agreement to this effect on the sidelines of the forum. The reactor will have a service life of 60 years and a full-core refueling interval of eight years. The SMR is planned to be put into commercial operation in 2030.
