That was what the company’s General Director told the President of the RF at their meeting in the beginning of January. “A total amount of contracts we have is 20 reactors. After Fukushima we have doubled the number of orders and this when the market has slipped slightly in general. Forty more contracts are under consideration. I hope every other of these projects, as minimum, will be brought up to the corresponding contract,” he said.
Informing President about the company’s strategy at the international market, Mr. Kiriyenko gave special emphasis to the contracts of the new NPPs in China and India. He reminded that in China the Russian specialists have already built two reactors of Tianwan NPP and the Chinese partners, having seen how they operate, have elected to continue the cooperation. “It is important that they have made this decision, because the Chinese build nuclear reactors themselves, the Americans and French build there as well. There is a tough competition, in other words. So they have ordered two more reactors in the conditions of such competition, and the work has already started,” said the head of Rosatom.
According to him, the work on building new reactors at Kudankulam NPP is under way. “The Indian Government is finally settling the issue of civil liability for damage. We submitted a revision and expect a response soon,” the head of Rosatom said. He also emphasized that the Indian partners “confirmed adherence to the roadmap (of new reactor construction),” which had been signed during President’s Putin’s latest visit to Delhi.
As said Mr. Kiriyenko, the next in the row project was Vietnam. “We have a signed contract for four reactors on one site, the Vietnamese partners want to increase the number of sites”. In Turkey the preparatory work is close to completion, according to the head of Rosatom: “Orders for the critical equipment have emerged, the licensing was completed in 2013, the plant design process was finished in late December, and the project is being submitted to the regulatory authorities.”
During the meeting Mr. Kiriyenko also pointed out, that the construction work within the country will also be going at a full pace, since the reactor start-ups are expected at “the Soviet style” rate. “Now, we are building nine reactors in this country,” said Mr. Kiriyenko. In particular, the first power of Beloyarsk plant’s first reactor may take place late this summer. “We must start up Rostov plant; preliminary we scheduled this for 2015. Also, we scheduled the first criticality at Novovoronezh NPP,” the head of Rosatom stated.
Russia is building up the nuclear build orders portfolio while not jeopardizing most rigorous safety requirements for nuclear facilities. “All this growth is not at the expense or in the prejudice of the safety. All safety indicators are being improved,” the head of Rosatom said at the meeting with President of Russia Vladimir Putin, demonstrating the World Association of Nuclear Operators’ data to the head of state. “The most important indicator is an annual number of scrams. In 2013 we had this twice better than in Europe,” Mr. Kiriyenko stated.
Russia is soon to expand the uranium mining rate almost by three, as also said Mr. Kiriyenko. Until lately it had used to be 3000-3200 tons. “In 2015 we’ll have 8400 tons with the self-cost quite different”.
