Rosatom today is one of the world’s leaders in power unit construction abroad (16% of the world market). There are construction orders from India, Turkey, Armenia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Belarus, China and Bangladesh.
“After the Fukushima catastrophe we were fully aware that the following year there would be a recession: lack of new contracts and even losses in what we already have” – said Sergey Kiriyenko, the head of Rosatom, in one of his previous interviews. However the amount of contracts for NPP constructions abroad in 2011 grew twice – up to 19 units. The total sum for foreign orders exceeds € 50 billion. “The key-countries developing nuclear energy such as Russia, USA, China, France, Great Britain, India, South Korea, on the contrary, started some new ambitious programs of nuclear power development. It is quite natural, however, that all these programs show a great deal of understanding of security demands” – said Kiriyenko.
Russia’s competitive ability is achieved due to appliance of high technologies and the most recent researches of Russian scientists and constructors. Russian technologies are in constant evolution; new stations are well modernized versions of basic ones that proved efficient. Pile assemblies, turbines, generators are constantly upgraded. The technological base of Rosatom in foreign projects now is presented by WWER – Water-Water Energetic Reactor. This type of reactors uses water for neutron moderator, which also serves as coolant. WWER is considered one of the safest reactors in the world.
WWER-TOI
In March 2010 “Atomenergoproyect” JSC (part of Rosatom, situated in Moscow) formed a new department in order to develop a type design of an optimized computerized high NPP power unit based on WWER. The WWER-TOI project will decrease the cost of engineering, construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of units. It is implemented in a computerized environment from the very beginning. The realization of the project will increase competitive ability of domestic layouts on foreign market and make the process of NPP construction more efficient – both for Russia and abroad.
Collaboration with China Continues
There are already two power units of “Tianwan” NPP built by Rosatom in China. This year the second priority is on schedule. The protocol was signed in Moscow on the ninth meeting dedicated to the topic. Now the agreement is to follow. According to Arkadyi Dvorkovich, the vice-Prime Minister of the RF, the second priority includes construction of the third and the fourth power units. The work will start in December. The negotiations over third priority construction are already in progress, said the PRC Vice-Chairman Wang Qishan. In his opinion, Tianwan NPP can become a good example of partnership in nuclear electric-power industry.
The second priority is to be launched before the end of 2017, says the director of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko. “The units are to be launched before the end of 2017 and in 2018 they will be placed into operation”. The director’s reply to the question if China was going to ask Russia for credit in order to construct TNPP-2 was “this will hardly happen”.
The agreement between Russia and China opens new horizons of the two countries cooperation. On the Moscow meeting Dvorkovich and Wang Qishan discussed the possibility of cooperative building of NPPs in other countries. Yet there are no particular sites, however the point is innovation projects applying high-speed neutron technologies.
Tianwan NPP is located in Jiangsu province, on the coast of the Yellow Sea. The contract for construction was signed in 1997. First two units built upon the “Atomenergoproyect” design are delivered into commercial operation in 2007. Total planned amount of the units is eight. The station today considered one of the safest in China.
Turkish Case
Foreign partners highly appreciate the partnership with Rosatom. Recently in Istanbul there was a meeting of energy secretary of Russia Alexander Novak and the energy and natural resources minister of Turkey Taner Yildiz. The special attention was paid to construction of the first NPP in Turkey.
The construction will be based on Russian technologies. The project realization started in 2010. The NPP will be built on the Southern coast of Turkey, in Mersin province and will consist of four power units of the NPP-2006 project with WWER-1200 types of reactors. The construction will be realized on BOO (Build – Own – Operate) terms. Yet there were no examples of applying this system in power engineering.
Russia is going to fully finance the project, as president of Russia Vladimir Putin assured Recep Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey during their recent meeting. The investment will exceed the sum of $20 billion. “No less than 25% will be put into job creation. The investments are huge; we hope that our Turkish partners will appreciate the risks we take” – emphasized Putin.
“Rosatom” has already invested 1.5 billion dollars into authorized share capital of the NPP management company “Akkuyu”. Russian specialists started the work on site. “The pit is being dug. The final permission for construction is expected in December”, said the head of the Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko. The power unit №1 is planned to be ready by the end of 2019 and the whole station – by 2022.
