Sergey Kondratyev, senior expert of Institute of Energy and Finance

– Nizhniy Novgorod NPP project will give the region 8,000 jobs

Public hearings on the preliminary environmental impact assessment of the construction and operation of the 1st and 2nd units of Nizhniy Novgorod Nuclear Power Plant took place in Navashino, Nizhniy Novgorod region on Sept 4 2009.

In the last years the growing economies of some regions have been running increasingly short of energy. This situation is especially serious in the most developed regions where growing industry has boosted housing and commercial property construction. Nizhniy Novgorod region, with its biggest agglomeration in Volga region (1,700,000 people), is not an exception. Shortage of energy is discouraging new consumers to join the energy system and is lowering the economic activity in the region. This situation is not very tangible now that everybody is experiencing a crisis but, when the crisis passes and the economy starts to revive, energy shortages may become a serious obstacle to this revival. According to the system operator, in 2008 Nizhniy Novgorod region consumed twice as much as it produced (the different between the consumption and production was 11.3bln KWh). By 2020 this discrepancy may redouble. So, the construction of new power generating capacities is crucial for the development of the region’s economy.

The Nizhniy Novgorod NPP project will give the region as many as 8,000 jobs which is very good for the time of crisis. The plant will receive a total of 134bln RUR – 2/3 of the total investments in the region in 2008. The tax revenues will exceed 90bln RUR. The project will boost the development of new productions and will allow to optimize the structure of generating capacities (particularly, to decommission the outdated thermal power plants).

The plant will be a big tax payer. It will create over 1,000 jobs and will pay its employees quite high wages (in 2008 the average salary at Energoatom Concern, the operator of the Russian nuclear power plants, was 39,000 RUR – almost 3 times higher than the average salary in the region). Thus, the project will give the region lots of social benefits.

Nizhniy Novgorod NPP is a serial project. A similar project is presently being implemented at Novovoronezh NPP-2. The general designer is Nizhniy Novgorod Atomenergoproekt (part of Atomenergoprom), the owner is Energoatom Concern OJSC (100% subsidiary of Atomenergoprom OJSC).

The plant will have two 1,170MW reactors and will generate over 17bln KWh a year and employ as many as 1,000 people. At the peak time the construction will involve as many as 8,000 people. The 1st reactor is supposed to be launched in 2017. The plant will be situated in Navashino district of Nizhniy Novgorod region.

The analysis of the power and capacity balance in Nizhniy Novgorod region has shown that in 2007 the region was short of 1,800MW while in 2020 it will need as much as 4,000MW.

This is a socially significant project: it will give the region 40bln RUR in profit tax, 50bln RUR in property tax, 1bln RUR in land tax and 50bln RUR in transport tax.