The operations to load fuel into the reactors of the floating power unit began on July 25 at Rosatomflot’s coastal base in Murmansk, preceded by obtaining the permit from Russian regulatory body Rostechnadzor.

“This spring we successfully towed the floating power unit with no nuclear fuel on board from Saint Petersburg to Murmansk, and here we are almost through with the final operations,” RosEnergoAtom’s Director for FNPS Vitaly Trutnev said. “We have started  one of the major procedures, in the course of which nuclear fuel will be loaded step by step into the first reactor and then into the second one.”

The next key operations to be performed by the end of the year are the first criticality and the initial stage of harbor acceptance tests. They will be performed after receiving relevant permits from Rostechnadzor.

The main condition for starting up the floating power unit in Murmansk is safety. Rosenergoatom’s Deputy Director for FNPS Dmitry Alekseyenko says that Rosatomflot’s base has the necessary infrastructure, staff and competencies to perform all of the aforementioned operations.

Once the fuel is loaded, the reactors started up, and the tests finished, Akademik Lomonosov will proceed to Pevek (located on the Chukotka peninsula in the Russian Far East). At the moment, construction is underway in the city to create the infrastructure (including a set of buildings, hydraulic structures, and an onshore site) for ensuring safe anchorage of the power unit, and seamless power supply. The vessel is expected to reach the destination this year.

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The Akademik Lomonosov floating power unit is the first model in a series of towable low-capacity power units. The facility is fitted out with two KLT-40S reactors generating up to 70 MW of electricity and 50 Hcal/h of thermal energy. Such power units are easily transported and therefore convenient for operation in Russia’s Far North and Far East as they can supply remote cities of 100,000 people and industrial facilities with energy. FNPS are also suitable for use in island countries since they can function as desalination plants.

At present, Rosatom is working on the second generation of FNPS represented by improved floating power units of a smaller size based on two 50 MW RITM-200M reactors.