A unique project for the SVBR-100 small reactors, which the State Corporation for the first time presented at the ATOMEX exhibition in Prague in autumn 2012, passes to implementation phase. Rosatom has already signed its first contract with the supplier, Ukranian Turboatom. At the same time Rosatom is looking for suppliers in Czech Republic. The market volume of small reactors in the coming thirty years is planned to cost around $300-600 billion. SVBR-100 is a small reactor project, liquid metal cooled, with the capacity of 100MWe, based on submarines reactors. Its small size easily allows it to be located even in remote places, hard to access by transport.
The project offers lots of new opportunities to the Czech industry: 13 Czech companies (ARAKO, EDT Transformatory, ENVINET, CHEMCOMEX Praha, Chladicí věže Praha, I&C Energo, MODŘANY Power, MPower Engineering, PROMONT, PSG International, Sandvik Chomutov Precision Tubes, SIGMA Group, ŠKODA JS, ÚJV Řež, VÍTKOVICE Power Engineering, VÚJE Česká republika, ZAT, ZVVZ-Enven Engineering) signed a memorandum of cooperation in the SVBR-100 reactors design last year at ATOMEX.
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The SVBR-100 is an integral reactor design, in which all the primary circuit – the reactor core itself as well as steam generators and associated equipment such as main circulating pumps – sits inside a pool of lead-bismuth coolant in a single vessel. The module would be factory-built and could be shipped by rail, road or water to its destination, where multiple modules could be installed depending on local needs. The output from the multi-function reactor could be used to supply heat, industrial steam and water desalination as well as electricity generation.
“SVBR-100 today is that much advanced, that we are currently looking for the suppliers of reactor’s separate parts at the world market. The new stage of the project implementation was signing the contract with KomplektEnergo, the official representative of Turboatom – the company to produce and deliver the first turbine“ – says Vladimir Petrochenko, AKME-Engineering General Director. The enterprise is doing the project implementation. “The launch of experimental-industrial power unit with SVBR-100 reactors in Dimitrovgrad is scheduled for 2017” – he adds.
According to IAEA the world demand for small and medium-power reactors (100-400 MW) by 2040 will be about 500-1000 units. The estimated total cost of the segment is $300-600 billion or CZK 6-12 billion. This type of reactor among all can be used in remote regions or in countries with limited water supply, since up to 200 000 tons of drinking water a day can be produced in the desalination mode. “Czech companies have a good chance to be among our key suppliers in this project“, – Petrochenko says. – Russian atomic industry has its business partnership with its Czech partners up and running. Thus last year Rosatom placed its orders with Czech Republic with a total sum of more than CZK 3 billion (EUR 120 million).
