Yekaterina Guseva, Director of Ruscable analytical center

– Project of such scale will create new jobs, which is very important in the face of crisis

Nizhniy Novgorod NPP project was presented in Nizhniy Novgorod Dec 19 2008. Governor of Nizhniy Novgorod region Valery Shantsev, Head of Department for Contacts with Public Organizations and Regions Igor Konyshev, Deputy Director General-Director for Development of Energoatom Concern OJSC Dmitry Tveritinov, Director General of VNIIAES Sergey Boyarkin, Director of Nizhniy Novgorod Atomenergoproekt Valery Limarenko attended the presentation. The designers said that the project would cost 268.7bln RUR. The plant will have four 1,150MW reactors. The 1st unit will be launched in 2016, the 2nd unit — in 2018, the 3rd unit — in 2019, the 4th unit — in 2020.

According to forecasts, the energy shortage in Nizhniy Novgorod region will be steadily growing: if today it is 1GW, in 2015 it will be 2.1–2.5GW, in 2020 — 3.5–4.2GW, in 2025 – 5.4–6.5GW and in 2030 – 6.6–7.1GW.

According to the project, the 1st unit of Nizhniy Novgorod NPP will be launched in 2016. The capacity of the reactor will be 1.2GW. So, it will cover just half of the energy shortage. The 2nd unit will be launched in 2018. So, even two reactors will not be enough for meeting the needs of the region. It is important that, today, in the face of crisis, when even the government has admitted significant staff reductions, a project of such a scale will create new jobs, at first, at the construction site and, later, at the plant.