Yuri Simonov, chief engineer of sea equipment projects of A.Krylov Central Research Institute

– The decision to build floating NPPs is quite good for the development of the Russian North

On Feb 24 2009 Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation and the Government of Yakutia signed an agreement for implementing investment projects to build four floating nuclear power plants for supplying the northern regions of the republic with heat and electricity. After the signing Director General of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko said that Russia was going to build 10 floating NPPs in the Far North region.

The ideal solution of a region having no power generating infrastructure but direly needing power is to build a floating nuclear power plant in an industrially developed area and to transport it to that region. Few people know that two floating plants have already been launched: on Green Bay, Kolyma, and on Schmidt Bay. Their problem is that they are diesel stations and need constant refueling. A floating nuclear power plant can work without refueling for 10 years. That’s why the decision to build floating NPPs is quite good for the development of the Russian North.

Besides, potentially, floating NPPs can be used by all countries having access to the sea and energy shortages. And this is a chance we must not miss.