Uzbekistan’s small modular reactor (SMR) project has taken a significant step forward as a 205-tonne ingot of special alloyed steel was cast at the AEМ SpetsStal steelmaking plant (part of Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division). This ingot will later be used to manufacture a component for the first reactor to be installed at the future nuclear power plant in the country’s Jizzakh region.
The steel-pouring process looks both spectacular and impressive — no wonder it was broadcast live during the Power Uzbekistan 2025 international exhibition. Visitors watched in real time as the RITM-200 reactor — another for Rosatom, and the very first reactor for the Uzbekistan project — began taking shape.
Pouring steel for reactors has long become a routine procedure for Rosatom’s steelmakers. It begins in an electric arc furnace, where raw materials are melted, alloyed, and refined. The final composition is set in a ladle at temperatures exceeding 1,600°C. The molten steel is then poured into a vacuum chamber to cool over 48 hours to 550–650°C. The resulting ingot will be transported to the forging shop, where it will be forged into a reactor vessel flange, a critical component of the reactor pressure vessel, connecting the top head with the rest of the structure. Once all manufacturing steps are completed, the flange will be shipped to other facilities of the mechanical engineering division for final reactor assembly.
Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division has streamlined production processes for RITM-200 reactors. Two such reactors power each of the four already commissioned Project 22220 nuclear icebreakers — Arktika, Sibir, Ural, and Yakutia. Another two have been manufactured for the Chukotka nuclear icebreaker, currently under construction at a shipyard in Saint Petersburg. In March, work began to assemble RITM-200 reactors for the Leningrad icebreaker. “Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division has the necessary capabilities and experience to manufacture RITM series reactors, proven through years of the icebreaker fleet operations,” said Division Head Igor Kotov. “Our expertise will now be applied to the production of all six RITM-200N reactor units for the SMR nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan.”
RITM-200N is a land-based version of the marine RITM-200 design. Each unit can generate 55 megawatts of power and has a design service life of 60 years. Six such reactors will be built for the SMR plant in Uzbekistan.
Key advantages of the RITM-200 include a small-size steam generating unit integrated into the reactor, an innovative higher-energy core, and a steam generator with a compact heat exchange surface. The design of its I&C and safety systems meets the latest standards, offering inherent safety, environmental compliance, ease of maintenance, and other user-friendly features. Four employees from OKBM Afrikantov (part of Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division) received the Russian government’s R&D award for developing the RITM-200 design.
The construction contract for the SMR plant in Uzbekistan was signed in May 2024, following amendments to the Russia-Uzbekistan intergovernmental nuclear cooperation agreement. The facility will be located in the Jizzakh region. In June 2024, the first coordination meeting for the project was held on the construction site. This April, on-site work began to set up a construction yard that will accommodate production facilities (particularly prefabrication workshops), administrative buildings, and warehouses.
According to reports from Uzbekistan’s Agency for Nuclear Energy Development (UzAtom), a joint session of the Operational Headquarters and the Technology Board was held in early May to discuss land allocation, infrastructure development, and the work schedule. The Technology Board reviewed the results of engineering surveys, approved the layout plan for the SMR plant, and confirmed the possibility of using locally mined uranium to produce nuclear fuel for the plant. Meanwhile, seismic, meteorological, geological, and hydrological surveys are continuing on-site to provide source data for the final design documentation.
At the Innoprom. Central Asia industrial exhibition, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev presented President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev with a scale model of the SMR nuclear power plant. “Uzbekistan remains a key partner for Rosatom across several areas of cooperation,” Likhachev said. “The contract signed last May to construct a 330 MW Russian-design SMR nuclear power plant in the Jizzakh Region is the world’s first export contract for such a facility, clearly demonstrating Uzbekistan’s leadership in the development of low-carbon technologies and the strong, trusting relationship between our countries and peoples.”
Photo by: Rosatom Engineering Division, Newspaper Strana Rosatom, Uzatom
