Nuclear Power in Russia

(Updated 30 January 2013) 

• Russia is moving steadily forward with plans for much expanded role of nuclear energy, with 50% increased output by 2020. 
• Efficiency of nuclear generation in Russia has increased dramatically since the mid 1990s. 
• Exports of nuclear goods and services are a major Russian policy and economic objective. 
• Russia is a world leader in fast neutron reactor technology. 

 

Contents

• Electricity Supply 
• Present Nuclear Capacity 
• Building new Nuclear Capacity 
• Reactor Technology 
• Improving reactor performance 
• Exports of nuclear reactors

Russia's first nuclear power plant, and the first in the world to produce electricity, was the 5 MWe Obninsk reactor, in 1954. Russia's first two commercial-scale nuclear power plants started up in 1963-64, then in 1971-73 the first of today's production models were commissioned. By the mid 1980s Russia had 25 power reactors in operation, but the nuclear industry was beset by problems. The Chernobyl accident led to a resolution of these, as outlined in the Appendix.

Rosenergoatom is the only Russian utility operating nuclear power plants. Its ten nuclear plants have the status of branches. It was established in 1992 and was reconstituted as a utility in 2001. 

Between the 1986 Chernobyl accident and mid 1990s, only one nuclear power station was commissioned in Russia, the 4-unit Balakovo, with unit 3 being added to Smolensk. Economic reforms following the collapse of the Soviet Union meant an acute shortage of funds for nuclear developments, and a number of projects were stalled. But by the late 1990s exports of reactors to Iran, China and India were negotiated and Russia's stalled domestic construction program was revived as far as funds allowed.

Around 2000 nuclear construction revived and Rostov-1 (also known as Volgodonsk-1), the first of the delayed units, started up in 2001, joining 21 GWe already on the grid. This greatly boosted morale in the Russian nuclear industry. It was followed by Kalinin-3 in 2004, Rostov-2 in 2010 and Kalinin 4 in 2011.

By 2006 the government's resolve to develop nuclear power had firmed and there were projections of adding 2-3 GWe per year to 2030 in Russia as well as exporting plants to meet world demand for some 300 GWe of new nuclear capacity in that time frame. 

In February 2010 the government approved the federal target program designed to bring a new technology platform for the nuclear power industry based on fast reactors. Rosatom's long-term strategy up to 2050 involves moving to inherently safe nuclear plants using fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle. In June 2010 the government approved plans for 173 GWe of new generating capacity by 2030, 43.4 GWe of this being nuclear.

Electricity supply in Russia

Russia's electricity supply, formerly centrally controlled by RAO Unified Energy System (UES)*, faces a number of acute constraints. First, demand is rising strongly after more than a decade of stagnation, secondly some 50 GWe of generating plant (more than a quarter of it) in the European part of Russia has come to the end of its design life, and thirdly Gazprom has cut back on the very high level of natural gas supplies for electricity generation because it can make about five times as much money by exporting the gas to the west (27% of EU gas comes from Russia). In 2012 Gazprom exports are expected to reach $84.5 billion, $61 billion of this to Europe for 150 billion m³.

UES' gas-fired plants burned about 60% of the gas marketed in Russia by Gazprom, and it is aimed to halve this by 2020. (Also, by 2020, the Western Siberian gas fields will be so depleted that they supply only a tenth of current Russian output, compared with nearly three quarters now.) Also there are major regional grid constraints so that a significant proportion of the capacity of some plants cannot be used.  Some non-nuclear generators have been privatised, eg OGK-4 (E.ON Russia) is 76% owned by E.ON, and OGK-5 (Enel Russia) is 56% owned by Enel. Other OGKs are owned by Inter RAO or Gazprom. Some TGK companies (also supplying heat) are private, others such as TGK-3 or Mosenergo are owned by Gazprom.

* In Russia, "energy" mostly implies electricity. 

Electricity production reached 1015 billion kWh in 2007, with 160 billion kWh (16%) coming from nuclear power, 487 TWh (48%) from gas, 170 TWh (17%) from coal and 179 TWh (18%) from hydro. In 2007 net export was 13 TWh and final consumption was 701 TWh (after transmission losses of 105 and own use/ energy sector use of 194 TWh). Nuclear capacity is about 10% of total 211 GWe.  The country's nuclear utilities were consolidated in 2001.

In November 2009, the government's Energy Strategy 2030 was published, projecting investments for the next two decades.  It envisaged a possible doubling of generation capacity from 225 GWe in 2008 to 355-445 GWe in 2030. A revised scheme in mid 2010 projected 1288 billion kWh demand in 2020 and 1553 billion kWh in 2030, requiring 78 GWe of new plant by 2020 and total 178 GWe new build by 2030, including 43.4 GWe nuclear. The scheme envisages decommissioning 67.7 GWe of capacity by 2030, including 16.5 GWe of nuclear plant (about 70% of present capacity). New investment by 2030 of RUR 9800 billion in power plants and RUR 10,200 billion in transmission will be required. Early in 2008 the projected annual electricity demand growth to 2020 was put at 4%, but in mid 2010 this was changed to 2.2%.  Electricity prices are relatively low - for households in 2010, about 9c/kWh compared with EU median of 18.5 cents.

In 2009 nuclear production was 163.3 billion kWh (83.7 TWh from VVER, 79.6 TWh from RBMK and other).  In 2010 it was 170.1 billion kWh, 16.6% of Russia's electricity, in 2011 it was 172.7 billion kWh (17.6%), and in 2012, 177 billion kWh was expected. Output could then level off for a few years due to problems with old RBMK units. Nuclear electricity output has risen strongly due simply to better performance of the nuclear plants, with capacity factors leaping from 56% to 76% 1998-2003 and then on to 80.2% in 2009.  Rosenergoatom aims for 90% capacity factor by 2015.  In 2006 Rosatom announced a target of nuclear providing 23% of electricity by 2020 and 25% by 2030, but 2007 and 2009 plans approved by the government scaled this back significantly.  (see: Extending Nuclear Capacity below)

In July 2012 the Energy Ministry published draft plans to commission 83 GWe of new capacity by 2020, including 10 GWe nuclear to total 30.5 GWe producing 238 TWh/yr. Total investment envisaged is RUR 8230 billion, including RUR 4950 billion on upgrading power plants, RUR 3280 billion on new grid capacity and RUR 1320 billion on nuclear.

In parallel with this Russia is greatly increasing its hydro-electric capacity, aiming to increase by 60% to 2020 and double it by 2030. Hydro OGK is planning to commission 5 GWe by 2011. The 3 GWe Boguchanskaya plant in Siberia is being developed in collaboration with Rusal, for aluminium smelting. The aim is to have almost half of Russia's electricity from nuclear and hydro by 2030.

UES electricity tariffs were planned to increase from (US$) 1.1 c/kWh in 2001 to 1.9 c/kWh in 2005 and 2.4 c/kWh in 2015. However, only much smaller increases have so far been approved by the government, and even these have attracted wide opposition. However, electricity supplied is now being fully paid for, in contrast to the situation in the mid 1990s.

In February 2007 RAO UES said that it was aiming to raise up to US$ 15 billion by selling shares in as many as 15 power generation companies, having increased its investment target by 2010 from $79 to $118 billion. Late in 2006 UES raised $459 million by selling 14.4% of one of its generators, OGK-5, and since then the UES sell-off has continued with investors committing to continued expansion.  In mid 2008 RAO UES was wound up, having sold off all its assets.  Some of these were bought by EU utilities, for instance Finland's Fortum bought at auction 76.5% of the small utility TGC-10, which operates in well-developed industrial regions of the Urals and Western Siberia.  From July 2008, 25% of all Russia's power is sold on the competitive market.  The wholesale power market was expected to be fully liberalised by 2011.

InterRAO UES was initially a subsidiary of RAO UES, involved with international trade and investment in electricity, particularly with Finland, Belarus and Kazakhstan.  It acquired some of RAO UES assets when that company was broken up in 2008 and it now controls about 18 GWe in Russia and Armenia.  It is responsible for finding a foreign investor and structuring electricity marketing for the proposed Baltic nuclear power plant.  It aims to increase its generation capacity to 30 GWe by 2015.  In November 2008 Rosatom's share in InterRAO was increased to 57.28%.

The Federal Grid Company (RAO FGC) owns Russia's 118,000-km high-voltage transmission grid and plans to invest €12 billion ($14.5 billion) over 2010-13 to modernize it. It has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Siemens to progress this, using the company's low-loss high-voltage DC transmission technology. The system operator is the Centralized Dispatching Administration (OAO SO-CDA).

Present nuclear capacity

Russia's nuclear plants, with 33 operating reactors totalling 24,164 MWe, comprise:

• 4 early VVER-440/230 or similar pressurised water reactors,
• 2 later VVER-440/213 pressurised water reactors,
• 11 current-generation VVER-1000 pressurised water reactors with a full containment structure, mostly V-320 types,
• 13 RBMK light water graphite reactors now unique to Russia. The four oldest of these were commissioned in the 1970s at Kursk and Leningrad and are of some concern to the Western world. A further Kursk unit is under construction.
• 4 small graphite-moderated BWR reactors in eastern Siberia, constructed in the 1970s for cogeneration (EGP-6 models on linked map).
• One BN-600 fast-breeder reactor.

Apart from Bilibino, several reactors supply district heating - a total of over 11 PJ/yr.

Power reactors in operation

Reactor	Type V=PWR	MWe net, each	Commercial operation	Scheduled close
Balakovo 1-2	V-320	988	5/86, 1/88	2015, 2017 (being extended)
Balakovo 3-4	V-320	988	4/89, 12/93	2018, 2023
Beloyarsk 3	BN600 FBR	560	11/81	2025
Bilibino 1-4	LWGR EGP-6	11	4/74-1/77	2019-21
Kalinin 1-2	V-338	950	6/85, 3/87	2014, 2016 (being extended)
Kalinin 3	V-320	988	12/04	2034
Kalinin 4	V-320	950	9/12	2042
Kola 1	V-230	432	12/73	2018
Kola 2	V-320	411	2/75	2019
Kola 3-4	V-213	411	12/82, 12/84	2026, 2029
Kursk 1-2	RBMK	971	10/77, 8/79	2016, 2024
Kursk 3	RBMK	971	3/84	2013
Kursk 4	RBMK	925	2/86	2015
Leningrad 1	RBMK	925	11/74	2018
Leningrad 2	RBMK	971	2/76	2020
Leningrad 3	RBMK	971	6/80	2024
Leningrad 4	RBMK	925	8/81	2025
Novovoronezh 3-4	V-179	385	6/72, 3/73	2016, 2017
Novovoronezh 5	V-187	950	2/81	2035
Smolensk 1-3	RBMK	925	9/83, 7/85,1/90	2022, 2015, 2020
Rostov 1	V-320	990	3/01	2030
Rostov 2	V-320	990	10/10
Total: 33		24,164 MWe

V-320 is the base model of what is generically VVER-1000, V-230 and V-213 are generically VVER-440, V-179 & V-187 are prototypes.  Rostov was formerly sometimes known as Volgodonsk. A July 2012 Energy Ministry plan shows 22,743 MWe net, 24,242 MWe gross, excluding Kalinin 4. 

Life extension, uprates and completing construction 

Generally, Russian reactors are licensed for 30 years from first power. Late in 2000, plans were announced for lifetime extensions of twelve first-generation reactors* totalling 5.7 GWe, and the extension period envisaged is now 15 to 25 years, necessitating major investment in refurbishing them. Generally the VVER-440 and RBMK units will get 15-year life extensions and the nine VVER-1000 units 25 years.  To 2010, 15-year extensions had been achieved for Novovoronezh-3 & 4, Kursk-2, Kola-1 & 2 and Leningrad-1-3.  Kursk-1 was extended for 10 years. Bilibino 1-4 have also been given 15-year licence extensions.  (Kola 1 & 2 VVER-440 and the Kursk and Leningrad RBMK units are all models which the EU has paid to shut down early in countries outside Russia.)  Balakovo 1 & 2 are being upgraded for life extension.

* Leningrad 1&2, Kursk 1&2, Kola 1&2, Bilibino 1-4, Novovoronezh 3&4. 

Safety analyses for Kola 3 & 4, which are later-model VVER-440 reactors, have allowed 15-year life extension and significant upratings.

In 2010, intended life extensions were announced for Leningrad 4, Smolensk 1, Kola 3 and Beloyarsk 3 (all 15 years), and Novovoronezh 5 (25 years).  Kalinin 1 was undergoing major overhaul in 2012 for licence extension and power uprate. Leningrad 4 is undergoing an RUR 17 billion refurbishment, including replacement of generator stator.  The upgrading investment in all four Leningrad I units totalled RUR 48 billion ($1.6 billion) to early 2012.

A plan for refurbishment, upgrade and life extension of Novovoronezh-5 was announced in mid 2009, this being the first second-generation VVER-1000 project. The initial estimate was RUR 1.66 billion ($52 million) but this eventually became RUR 14 billion ($450 million).  The 12 months work from September 2010 included total replacement of the reactor control system and 80% of electrical equipment, and fitting upgraded safety systems, in particular, those of emergency core cooling and feed water, and emergency power supply.

In 2006, Rosatom said it was considering lifetime extensions and uprating all of its eleven operating RBMK reactors. Following significant design modifications made after the Chernobyl accident, as well as extensive refurbishment including replacement of fuel channels, a 45-year lifetime is seen as realistic for the 1000 MWe units. In 2009 they provided 45% of Russia's nuclear-generated electricity. 

Early in 2012 Rosatom announced a RUR 45 billion ($1.5 billion) program to upgrade and extend the operating life of Smolensk 1-3 RBMK units. At the same time, construction of Smolensk II would get underway, with the first unit to come on line by 2024. In 2012 Smolensk 1 was licensed to December 2022, a ten-year extension after refurbishment.

The July 2012 Energy Ministry plan confirmed the scheduled closure of ten reactors at Kola, Novovoronezh, Leningrad and Bilibino by 2021, as tabulated above. However, Leningrad unit 1 was shut down in May 2012 due to deformation of the graphite moderator, and a decision is due in November 2013 on whether to fix or decommission it.

The Beloyarsk-3 BN-600 fast neutron reactor in Zarechny municipality of Sverdlovsk Region has been upgraded and prepared for 15-year life extension, to 2025. Its licence has been renewed to 2020. It achieved 30 years of operation to late 2011, producing 114 billion kWh with capacity factor of 76%. Due to progressive modification, its fuel burn up has increased from 7% (design value) to 11.4%. It provides heat for Zarechny town as well.

Most reactors are being uprated. The July 2012 Energy Ministry draft plan envisaged increasing the power of VVER-440 units to 107%, that of RBMKs to 105% and VVER-1000 units to 104-110%.

In December 2009 Rostechnadzor approved a 4% increase in power from Balakovo-2, a V-320 unit completed in 1988. Rostov-1 and Kalinin 2 & 3 have been approved similarly, and are operating at this level on pilot commercial basis. Rostov-2 was approved in October 2012.  During 2010-11 the uprating program was completed for all VVER units except Novovoronezh 5: 4% for VVER-1000, 5% for VVER-440. The cost of this was put at US$ 200 per kilowatt, compared with $2400/kW for construction of Rostov-2.  Novovoronezh 5 underwent a 9-month upgrade over 2010-11 to extend its operating life to 2035. Balakovo 1, 3 & 4 are all uprated, but as of mid 2012 not yet licensed at the 1028 MWe level. Kola 4 has been uprated to 107% using improved fuel assemblies on a 6-year cycle and run on pilot basis but may not yet be fully licensed at this level.  It seems that for the V-320 units, pilot commercial operation at 104% power will be carried out over three fuel campaigns, with the reactor and other system parameters being monitored and relevant data collected. After this period, a cumulative 104% power operation report will be produced for each plant. Rostechnadzor will then assess safety and possibility licence commercial operation at the higher power level.

All RBMKs were to be uprated 5% by 2013, except the first, Leningrad 1. A major contract for upgrading Leningrad unit 4 over 2008-11 was followed by one for Kursk 4. Kursk 2 & 3 with Smolensk 3 would follow. Kursk 1 was the first RBMK unit to be licensed for pilot operation with 5% uprate. The R&D Institute of Power Engineering was preparing plans for 5% uprating of the later Leningrad, Kursk and Smolensk units. For Leningrad 2-4, fuel enriched to average 3% instead of 2.4% would allow a 5% increase in power - some 46 MWe each. Rostechnadzor authorized trials in unit 2 of the new fuel, and following this it was to consider authorizing a 5% uprate for long-term operation.  In February 2012 Rosatom said it would invest a further RUR 30 billion ($1.1 billion) in upgrading Kursk 2-4 and extending their operating lives – RUR 5.0, 11.9 & 13.7 billion respectively.  However, Rosenergoatom then (May 2012) decided that due to problems with ageing of the graphite moderator, most acute at Leningrad 1, it would not proceed with uprates, and would consider de-rating individual units where problems such as pressure tube distortion were apparent, due to graphite swelling. Leningrad 1 would be de-rated to 80% to prolong its operating life, though in 2012 its future beyond 38 years was under review.

Rosenergoatom is investigating further uprates of VVER-1000 units to 107 or 110% of original capacity, using Balakovo 4 as a pilot plant by 2014. This could then be extended to other Balakovo units, then Rostov and Kalinin. The cost of further uprates is expected to be up to $570/kW, depending on what needs to be replaced - the turbine generators being the main items.  In 2012 Kalinin 1 was being confirmed at 104% of original in tests, following similar uprates at Kalinin-2 a year earlier. Balakovo-2 and Rostov-1 apparently operate at 104%.

 Reactors under construction included Kalinin-4, a V-320 unit which was built by Nizhny-Novgorod Atomenergopoekt. Rostechnadzor approved an operating licence in October 2011, it started up in November, was grid-connected in December and attained full commercial operation in September 2012.  It uses major components originally supplied for Belene in Bulgaria (which may now be built at Kozloduy as a later V-466 type). Final cost was RUR 7 billion ($220 million) under budget - about 10%.

 In September 2009 Rostechnadzor approved an operating licence for Rostov-2, and fuel loading was completed in December.  It started up in January 2010, was grid connected in March, and apparently entered full commercial operation in October 2010.  For Rostov 3 & 4, which are effectively new V-320 plants, construction resumed in 2009.  See following section.  

The Beloyarsk-4 BN-800 fast reactor has been delayed by lack of funds since construction start in 2006 and is now expected on line in 2015 after first criticality in September 2014 (see also Transition to Fast Reactors subsection below). 

From mid 2008 there were four standard third-generation VVER reactors being built: at Leningrad (two units to commence stage 2) and Novovoronezh (similarly) to be commissioned 2013-16.  This leads to a program of starting to build at least 2000 MWe per year in Russia from 2009 (apart from export plants).  See following section. 

There has been considerable uncertainty about completing Kursk-5 - an upgraded RBMK design which is more than 70% built. However, Rosatom was keen to see it completed and in January 2007 the Duma's energy committee recommended that the government fund its completion by 2010.  In March 2007 the Industry Ministry recommended to the government that work proceed and Rosenergoatom then applied for RUR 27 billion (US$ 1 billion) from the ministry's 2008-10 federal budget to complete it. This did not materialise, so other funds were sought, and discussions with Sberbank and industrial electricity consumers such as steel producers continued into 2009.  All other RBMK reactors - long condemned by the EU - are due to close by 2024, which would leave it technologically isolated.  Despite positive statements as recently as September 2009, according to Rosatom early in 2010 it required RUR 45 billion and 3.5 years to finish and connect (RUR 27 billion for the plant itself), compared with around RUR 60 billion for building the same capacity from scratch in the new projects under way. Rosatom said that this meant "there is no sense in completing the reactor construction". (Accordingly it was then removed from WNA's "under construction" list.) In February 2012 Rosatom confirmed that the project was terminated. Instead, major announcements were made regarding Kursk II, a modern VVER plant to be built from 2015 to ensure that Kursk remains “the key electricity generation facility in the Central Black-Soil Region of Russia.”

After the Fukushima accident, checks were made on Russian nuclear plants. Following these, in mid June 2011 Rosenergoatom announced a RUR 15 billion ($530 million) safety upgrade program for additional power and water supply back-up. Rosenergoatom spent RUR 2.6 billion on 66 mobile diesel generator sets, 35 mobile pumping units and 80 other pumps.

Retiring old units

The July 2012 Energy Ministry draft plan envisages decommissioning nine units by 2020 – 4 VVERs (probably Kola 1 & 2, Novovoronezh 3 & 4), 2 RBMKs (probably Leningrad 1 and Kursk 1) and three of the small Bilibino EGPs, total 3750 MWe gross, 3521 MWe net.
 

Building new nuclear capacity 

Rosatom's initial proposal for a rapid expansion of nuclear capacity was based on the cost effectiveness of completing the 9 GWe of then partially built plant. To get the funds, Minatom offered Gazprom the opportunity to invest in some of the partly completed nuclear plants. The argument was that the US$ 7.3 billion required for the whole 10 GWe (including the just-completed Rostov-1) would be quickly recouped from gas exports if the new nuclear plant reduced the need to burn that gas domestically.

In September 2006 Rosatom announced a target of nuclear providing 23% of electricity by 2020, thus commissioning two 1200 MWe plants per year from 2011 to 2014 and then three per year until 2020 - some 31 GWe and giving some 44,000 MWe of nuclear capacity then. By July 2012 this had been scaled back to give 30.5 GWe nuclear in 2020.

In October 2006 Russia formally adopted a US$ 55 billion nuclear energy development program, with $26 billion of this to 2015 coming from the federal budget. The balance would be from industry (Rosatom) funds, and no private investment was involved. The Minister of Finance strongly supported the program to increase nuclear share from 15.6% to 18.6% of total, hence improving energy security as well as promoting exports of nuclear power technology. After 2015 all funding would be from Rosatom revenues.

In April 2007 the government approved in principle a construction program to 2020 for electricity-generating plants. It was designed to maximise the share of electricity from nuclear, coal, and hydro, while reducing that from gas. This envisaged starting up one nuclear power unit per year from 2009, two from 2012, three from 2015 and four from 2016. Present nuclear capacity would increase at least 2.3 times by 2020.  This proved too ambitious.

Hence in September 2007 the first version of the following scheme was released, but noting that from 2012 to 2020 only two 1200 MWe units per year were within the "financial capacity of the federal task program".  Accordingly, the third units for 2015 and 2016 were designated "proposed".  In the February 2008 update of this (below), one 1200 MWe Tversk unit was brought forward to 2015 scheduled start-up, so was designated "planned":

 

 

 

In February 2008, under the broader Master Plan for Electric Energy Facilities to 2020, the earlier federal target plan (FTP) to 2020 was endorsed with little change except than an extra five VVER-1200 units were added as "maximum scenario" or "extra" in the last few years to 2020.  As well as the 4800 MWe capacity then under construction, a further 12,000 MWe was planned for completion mostly by 2016, and then another 16,000 to 22,000 MWe proposed by 2020.  Several new sites were involved.  Also the new 300 MWe units were listed as being VBER-300 PWR types.

More significantly, the Ministry of Industry and Energy (MIE) and Rosatom were charged with promptly developing an action plan to attract investment into power generation. It is envisaged that by 2020 much generation will be privatized and competitive, while the state will control natural monopoly functions such as the grid.

From January 2009 the FTP was supplemented by Rosatom's long-term activity program.  This included Kursk-5 and the Baltic plant in Kaliningrad, both subject to private finance.  However, capacity targets and expenditure were much as above.  By 2030 nuclear share of electricity was expected to grow to 25%, from 16% then. 

However, by April 2009 reduced electricity demand expectations caused the whole construction program outlined above to be scaled back, and some projects put on hold.  Ten units were deferred pending "economic upturn and electricity demand growth", expected in about two years.  See Table below, where three units were moved from planned to proposed accordingly.  From mid 2009, half the capital for new nuclear plants would come from Rosatom budget and half from the state.

In July 2009 a revised federal target program (FTP) for 2010-2015 and until 2020 was approved and signed by the President.  This put Kursk II 1-2 and Smolensk II 1-2 into the picture for completion by 2020, ahead of many other units, and they have been shown thus in the Table below.  The first unit of the Baltic plant is to be complete in 2016. 

In July 2012 the Energy Ministry published draft plans to commission only 10 GWe nuclear to 2020 – basically what was currently under construction including Kalinin 4, to give total 30.5 GWe producing 238 TWh/yr by then.
 

In February 2010 the government announced that Rosenergoatom’s investment program for 2010 amounted to RUR 163.3 billion, of which RUR 53 billion would come from the federal budget. Of the total, RUR 101.7 billion is for nuclear plant construction, almost half of this from Rosenergoatom funds. It includes the reactors listed below as under construction, as well as Leningrad II-2 and the Baltic plant.  In March Rosatom said that it now intended to commission three new reactors per year from 2016.

In March 2011 the State Duma’s energy committee recommended construction of Kursk II with standard VVER-TOI reactors and updating FTP plans to have Units 1 and 2 put on line in 2020 and 2023. Rosatom was told start engineering surveys for Kursk II in 2011. It has said that unit 1 must be in service by the time the first RBMK unit of phase I is closed, to ensure adequate supply to Moscow. 

The FTP program is based on VVER technology at least to about 2030.  But it highlights the goal of moving to fast neutron reactors and closed fuel cycle, for which Rosatom proposed two options, outlined below in Transition to Fast Reactors subsection. In stage 1 of the second option, which was adopted, a 100 MWe lead-bismuth-cooled fast reactor is to be built, and in stage 2 over 2015-2020 a pilot demonstration 300 MWe lead-cooled BREST reactor and a multi-purpose fast neutron research reactor (MBIR) are to be built.  In addition it is planned to build and commission a commercial complex to fabricate dense fuel, to complete construction of a pilot demonstration pyrochemical complex to fabricate BN fuel, and to test closed fuel cycle technologies. Fusion studies are included and the total R&D budget is RUR 55.7 billion, mostly from the federal budget. The FTP implementation is intended to result in a 70% growth in exports of high technology equipment, works and services rendered by the Russian nuclear industry by 2020. In 2012 the head of Rosatom said that the FTP was being accelerated to bring forward development and have a full range of fast reactor technologies with associated fuel cycles operating by 2020. Rosatom’s R&D budget would be almost doubled by then to achieve this.

In 2009 Siemens announced that it would withdraw from Areva and forge a link with Rosatom. A memorandum of understanding then confirmed the intent to set up a joint venture with Rosatom as majority shareholder, developing Russian VVER designs, building new nuclear power plants, and upgrading existing nuclear plants. This was hailed by Mr Putin as a long-term strategic partnership. However, finalising the agreement was delayed pending Siemens disengaging from Areva, and in September 2011 Siemens announced that it would not proceed.  In any case most of Siemens intellectual property remained with Areva, so it would have had little to contribute to Rosatom/ Atomenergoprom.

See also subsections: Transition to Fast Reactors in this section, and Fast Reactors, in Reactor Technology section below

The latest Federal Target Program (FTP) envisages a 25-30% nuclear share in electricity supply by 2030, 45-50% in 2050 and 70-80% by end of century.

Major Power Reactors under Construction, Planned and officially Proposed 

Plant	Reactor Type	MWe	Status, Start Construction	Commercial operation
Floating NPP 1	KLT-40S	40 x 2	Const 5/09	late 2016
Beloyarsk 4	BN-800 FBR	880	Const	2014
Novovoronezh II -1	VVER 1200/ V-392M	1200	Const 6/08	2014
Leningrad II-1	VVER 1200/ V-491	1200	Const 10/08	10/2013
Novovoronezh II -2	VVER 1200/ V-392M	1200	Const 7/09	2016
Rostov 3	VVER 1000/ V-320	1100	Const 1983, resumed 9/09	2014
Leningrad II -2	VVER 1200/ V-491	1200	Const 4/10	2016
Rostov 4	VVER 1000/ V-320	1100	Const 1983, first new concrete 6/10	6/2017
Baltic 1 (Kaliningrad)	VVER 1200/ V491	1194 (1097 net)	Const 4/12	2017 (Oct 2016 start)
Subtotal of 10 under construction		9160 gross, 8700 net
Leningrad II-3	VVER 1200	1200	Planned, 2013	2017
Leningrad II-4	VVER 1200	1200	Planned, 2014	2019
Nizhny Novgorod 1	VVER TOI	1300	Planned, 2014	2020
Nizhny Novgorod 2	VVER TOI	1300	Planned, 2015	2022
Baltic 2 (Kaliningrad)	VVER 1200	1200	Planned, 2014	2018
Tver 1	VVER 1200	1200	Planned, 2012	2017
Tver 2	VVER 1200	1200	Planned, 2013	2017
Tsentral 1	VVER-1200	1200	Planned, 2013	2018
Tsentral 2	VVER-1200	1200	Planned, 2014	2019
Seversk 1	VVER 1200	1200	Planned, 2013	2020
Seversk 2	VVER 1200	1200	Planned, 2014	2025
Kursk II -1	VVER-TOI	1300	Planned, 2015	2020
Kursk II -2	VVER-TOI	1300	Planned	2023
Kola II - 1	VVER-TOI (earlier VK-300 or VBER-300)	1300	Planned, 2015	2020
Kola II -2	VVER-TOI	1300	Planned?	2021
Beloyarsk 5	BN-1200	1200	Planned, 2015-16	2020
Dimitrovgrad	SVBR-100	100	Planned, 2014	2017
Pevek	KLT-40S	40x2	Planned	2020
Primorsk 1	VK-300 or VBER 300	300	Planned	2019
Primorsk 2	VK-300 or VBER 300	300	Planned	2020
Smolensk II - 1	VVER-TOI	1200	Planned	2020
Smolensk II - 2	VVER-TOI	1200	Planned	2021
subtotal of 24 planned		24,180 gross
Note that the 3rd and 4th units of some of the above new plants (eg Novovoronezh, Kursk, Smolensk) may be built ahead of others listed above.
				dates very tentative:
Zheleznogorsk MCC	VBER-300	300	Proposed	2015
Zheleznogorsk MCC	VBER-300	300	Proposed	2016
Kursk II - 3	VVER-TOI	1300	Planned/ Proposed	2020
Kursk II - 4	VVER-TOI	1300	Planned/ Proposed	2021
Smolensk II - 3	VVER 1200	1200	Planned/ Proposed	2022
Smolensk II - 4	VVER 1200	1200	Planned/ Proposed	2023
South Urals 1	VVER 1200 or BN-1200	1200	Planned, 2015	2021
Novovoronezh II -3	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2017 ?
South Urals 2	VVER 1200 or BN-1200	1200	Planned, 2015	2025
Novovoronezh II -4	VVER 1200	1200	Planned	2019 ?
Tver 3	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2019
South Urals 3	VVER 1200 or BN-1200	1200	Proposed	2030
Nizhny Novgorod 3	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2019
Nizhny Novgorod 4	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2020
Tsentral 3	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2019 ?
Tsentral 4	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2020 ?
South Ural 4?	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2020
Tver 4	VVER 1200	1200	Proposed	2020
Beloyarsk 6	BN-1200/ 1600	1200/1600	Proposed (approved)	2024?
Balakova 5 & 6	VVER 1000	1000	Proposed RUSAL
Sakha	ABV-6	18x2	Proposed
Subtotal of 20 units		19,836-20,236 approx

 VVER-1200 is the reactor portion of the AES-2006 nuclear power plant.  Rostov was also known as Volgodonsk, and construction of units 3 & 4 actually began in 1983 but was suspended indefinitely with relatively little work done.  South Urals was to be BN-800, and now likely BN-1200. 

Seversk is near Tomsk, Tver is near Kalinin, Nizhniy Novgorod is 400 km east of Moscow, and Tsentral (central) at Bui in  Kostrama region, just NE of Nizhniy Novgorod.  South Ural is 140 km west of Chelyabinsk and SE of Beloyarsk.  Primorsk is in the far east,  as is Vilyuchinsk in the Kamchatka region, and Pevek in the Chukotka Autonomous Region near Bilibino, which it will replace.  Floating nuclear power or cogeneration plants are planned for Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka and Pevek, Chukotka. Tver and Tsentral have been considered alternatives in the short term. 

Rostov 3 & 4 

(formerly Volgodonsk) The environmental statement and construction application were approved by Rostechnadzor in May 2009, the construction licence was granted to Energoatom in June, and construction resumed about September (it had started in 1983).  First new concrete for unit 4 was in June 2010.  Rosatom brought forward the completion dates of the two units after deciding that they would have V-320 type of VVER with improved steam generators and capacity of 1100 MWe.  This is expected to save some RUR 10 billion relative to the AES-2006 technology as it continues the construction done over 1983-86.  First criticality of unit 3 is planned for Decemeber 2013.  Nizhniy Novgorod Atomenergoproekt (NN AEP) is principal contractor for units 3 & 4, expected to cost 130 billion (US$ 4.1 billion) according to Rosenergoatom in August 2012.  Steam generators for unit 4 will be from AEM-Tekhnologi at the Atommash plant. Ukraine's Turboatom is to provide the low-speed turbine generators for both units. Grid connection of unit 2 was in March 2010 and full commercial operation was in October.

Novovoronezh II 

Phase II is being built by Moscow AtomEnergoProekt, with work starting in 2007 and some involvement of NN AEP.  This is the lead plant for deploying the V392M version of the AES-2006 units.  First concrete was poured for unit 1 of this (unit 6 at the site) in June 2008 and it is expected to be commissioned in 2012, with unit 2 following in 2013, at a total cost of US$ 5 billion for 2136 MWe net.  The reactor pressure vessel is due to be completed by OMZ Izhora in August 2010.  The reactor pressure vessel is from OMZ Izhora and the advanced steam generators from ZiO-Podolsk, with 60-year life expectancy.  Turbine generators (high speed) are from Power Machines. Rostechnadzor licensed construction of unit 2 in October 2008 and construction started in July 2009.  The plant is on one of the main hubs of the Russian grid.  

Leningrad II 

A general contract for Leningrad phase II AES-2006 plant was signed with St Petersburg AtomEnergoProekt (SPb AEP) in August 2007 and Rostechnadzor granted site licences in September 2007.  A specific engineering, procurement and construction contract for the first two 1172 MWe (net) V491 units was signed in Marchand Rostechnadzor issued a construction licence in June 2008. First concrete was poured on schedule for unit 1 in October 2008 and it is due to be commissioned in October 2013. However, a section of outer containment collapsed in 2011 and may set back the schedule. Rostechnadzor granted a construction licence for the second reactor in July 2009, and first concrete was poured in April 2010. Commercial operation is due in 2016. Each reactor will also provide 1.05 TJ/hr (9.17 PJ/yr) of district heating. They are designed to replace the oldest two Leningrad units.

The 2008 construction contract was for US$ 5.8 billion ($2480/kW) possibly including some infrastructure. Total project cost was estimated at $6.6 billion. It was reported in September 2011 that Titan-2, a major subcontractor, took over from SPb AEP as principal construction contractor, then in February 2012 that Spetsstroy of Russia (Federal Agency for Special Construction) was likely to do so. Rosatom said that it did not believe that SPb AEP should perform the full range of design, construction and equipment supply roles.

A design contract for the next two units (3 & 4) was signed with SPb AEP in September 2008, and public consultation on these was held in Sosnovy Bor in mid 2009. An environmental review by Rostechnadzor was announced for them in January 2010 and a site development licence was granted in June. 

Seversk 

The first 1200 MWe unit of the Seversk AES-2006 plant 32 km northwest of Tomsk was due to start up in 2015 with the second in 2017, but has been postponed, and a decision on construction schedule is now expected early in 2012, in the light of electricity demand. Rosatom is ready to start construction in 2013, but awaits ministerial direction. The plant will also supply 7.5 PJ/yr of district heating. Atomenrgopoekt Moscow is to build the plant at estimated cost of RUR 134 billion (US$ 4.4 billion). Rostechnadzor granted a site development licence in November 2009 and site work has commenced. In 2010 Seversk was put on the updated general scheme of deployment of energy facilities, with the first reactor commissioning before 2020 and the second one in 2020-2025.  Seversk is the site of a major enrichment plant and former weapons facilities. A design contract for the low-speed turbine generators has been signed between Moscow AEP which is responsible for design and engineering, and Alstom Atomenergomash. This will be the first Russian plant using the low-speed turbines.

Nizhny Novgorod 

The plant in Navashino District near Monakovo is eventually to comprise four AES-1200 units of 1150 MWe net and costing RUR 269 billion (US$ 9.4 billion), the first coming on line by 2019 to address a regional energy deficit.  In February 2008 Rosatom appointed Nizhny-Novgorod Atomenergoproekt (NN-AEP) as the principal designer of the plant.  Rostechnadzor issued a positive site review for units 1 & 2 early in 2010 and a site licence with prescription for site monitoring in January 2011. Rosatom's proposal to proceed with construction of two units for 2019 and 2021 commissioning was approved in November 2011. Site works started in 2012 and formal construction could start about the end of 2014, though latest estimate for the first unit on line is 2020. It appears that this will be the first VVER-TOI plant with rated capacity of 1300 MWe per unit.  Preliminary costing is RUR 240 billion (7.38 billion).

Tver  

The plant at Udomlya and not far from Kalinin is being designed by Nizhny-Novgorod Atomenergoproekt (NN-AEP), and in January 2010 it was announced that Rostechnadzor would conduct an environmental review of it for the first two VVER-1200 units, these being on the general scheme of electricity generators deployment to 2020. No firm dates are given for the project, though a site development licence was expected in March 2010.

Tsentral 

The 2340 MWe Tsentral (Central) nuclear power plant is to be 5-10 km northwest of Bui Town in the Kostroma region, on the Kostroma River. It was another of those deferred but following Rosatom's October 2008 decision to proceed, it now appears that construction will start in 2013 with the first unit completed in 2018. Moscow Atomenergoproekt is the architect-engineer. Rostechnadzor has approved the site and a development licence was expected by mid 2010, then a construction licence in 2012. The cost of the project and infrastructure is expected to be RUR 130 billion ($ 5 billion).

South Urals 

The plant near Ozersk in Chelyabinsk region has been twice deferred, and is now reported by local government to have three BN-1200 fast reactor units planned, instead of four VVER-1200. These are expected to come on line about 2021, 2025 and 2030. However, there is only enough cooling water (70 GL/yr) for two of them, and the third will depend on completion of the Suriyamskoye Reservoir. 

Kola II 

In January 2012 Rosenergoatom said that the replacement Kola II plant would be brought forward and built with two VVER-TOI units to come on line in 2020.

Kursk II 

In October 2011 Rosatom said that the first unit of Kursk II should be on line by the time Kursk 1 closes in 2016. In March 2011, the State Duma’s Energy Committee recommended that the government update the general scheme of deployment of electricity generators, to have Units 1 and 2 of Kursk II being commissioned in 2020 and 2023 as VVER TOI types. The cost envisaged is RUR 440 billion ($15 billion). Kursk I-5 capacity had been planned in the federal target program and its abandonment leaves a likely base-load shortfall for UES in central Russia. Rosatom was told to start engineering surveys for Kursk II in 2011, and set up a task force of representatives from the nuclear industry and Kursk Region government to produce project documentation on construction of Kursk II.  Three possible sites are: adjacent to existing site, Byki in Kurchatov District (6 km away), and Ugony in Lgov District (15 km away). Construction start is planned for 2015. In June 2012 Rosatom appointed Moscow AEP as designer, though a later report had Nizhny-Novgorod AEP (NIAEP) as architect general and principal contractor.

Baltic 

Separately from the February 2008 plan, Rosatom energy-trading subsidiary InterRAO UES proposed a Baltic or Baltiyskaya AES-2006 nuclear plant in Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast to generate electricity for export, and with up to 49% European equity.  Private or foreign equity would be an innovation for Russia. The plant will comprise two 1200 MWe VVER units, V-491 model, sited at Neman, on the Lithuanian border and costing some RUR 194 billion (in 2009 value, EUR 4.6 billion, $6.8 billion), for 2300 MWe net.  Project approval was confirmed by government decree in September 2009, following initial approval in mid 2008 as an amendment to the federal target program (FTP) of 2007. The mid 2011 business plan estimated the likely capital cost to be EUR 6.63 to 8.15 billion.

WorleyParsons was appointed technical consultant for the project.  Rosenergoatom set up a subsidiary: JSC Baltic NPP to build and commission the plant.  St Petersburg Atomenergoproekt is the architect engineer, Nizhniy Novgorod AEP is construction manager, Atomstroyexport is also involved. TitanStroyMontazh is engineering subcontractor.  OMZ's Ishorskiye Zavody will produce the pressure vessel for unit 2 and the pressurisers for both units. Originally AEM Petrozavodskmash was to produce the pressure vessel but this is now assigned to AEM-Tekhnologii at the Atommash plant. Alstom-Atomenergomash will supply the Arabelle low-speed turbine generators for both units - the plant will be the JV's first customer, and the Baltic plant will be the first Russian plant to use major foreign components. (LMZ high-speed turbine generators had initially been approved.)

 Site work began in February 2010. Expenditure to January 2012 was RUR 7.25 billion ($241 million), and that in 2012 is expected to be RUR 7 billion. Rostechnadzor issued a construction licence for unit 1 in November 2011 and first concrete was poured on (revised) schedule in April 2012, with the base completed in December 2012.  Unit 1 is planned to come on line in October 2016, after 55 months construction, supplying Rosenergoatom.  Commercial operation is due in 2017. Second unit construction is planned over 2013-18, with 48 months to first power and full operation in April 2018.  Inter RAO UES is to be responsible for soliciting investment (by about 2014, well after construction start) and also for electricity sales.

The Baltic plant directly competes with the plan for a new unit at Visaginas near Ignalina in Lithuania. Rosenergoatom has said that the plant is deliberately placed "essentially within the EU" and is designed to be integrated with the EU grid.  Most of the power (87% in the mid 2011 business plan) would be exported to Germany, Poland and Baltic states. Transmission to northern Germany would be via Poland or an undersea cable, and in 2011 Inter RAO and Alpiq agreed to investigate an 800 MWe undersea DC link to Germany's grid. Some EUR 1 billion in transmission infrastructure is likely to be required. There is already substantial transmission capacity east through Lithuania to the St Petersburg region if that were added to the options. The European equity would be in order to secure markets for the power. Lithuania was invited to consider the prospect, instead of building Visaginas as a Baltic states plus Poland project.

Czech power utility CEZ has expressed interest in the project, as has Iberdrola from Spain, whose engineering subsidiary already works at Kola, Balakovo and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants.  In April 2010 Enel signed a wide-ranging agreement with Inter RAO which positioned it to take up to 49% of the plant, but no more was heard of this.  Rosatom has said that the project will not be delayed if 49% private equity or long-term sales contracts are not forthcoming.

As well as the Baltic plant, two other ventures with Rusal (see below) will apparently require private equity.

Smolensk II

Atomenergoproekt is architect engineer for two VVER-TOI units to replace old RBMK capacity at Smolensk.
 

Vilyuchinsk or Pevek 

Energoatom signed a RUR 9.98 billion purchase contract for the first floating nuclear power plant for Vilyuchinsk, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east, in July 2009.  The 2x35 MWe plant, named Academician Lomonosov, is due to be completed in 2011 and commissioned in 2012, but the project is delayed due to shipyard insolvency.  See FNPP subsection below. 

Dimitrovgrad 

In December 2009 AKME-Engineering was set up by Rosatom and the En+ Group (a subsidiary of Russian Machines Co/ Basic Element Group) as a 50-50 JV to develop and operate a pilot 100 MWe SVBR unit at Dimitrovgrad, by 2017. In 2011 JSC Irkutskenergo took over the En+ 50% share, and early in 2012 the AKME Engineering web site listed the main project participants as OKB Gidropress at Podolsk, VNIPIET OAO at St Petersburg, and the RF State Research Centre Institute for Physics & Power Engineering at Obninsk. The project cost was estimated at RUR 16 billion, and En+ was prepared to put in most of this, with Rosatom contributing the technology. Since this is thus a public-private partnership, it was not basically funded from the federal budget.  In 2010 AKME-Engineering contracted with Atomenergoproekt to design the pilot SVBR-100, with the IPPE. Construction at NIIAR is scheduled to take 42 months, from 2013.

UES was reported to support construction of new nuclear plants in the regions of Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk (South Urals) and Vladimir, with two to four units at each. 

Further Power Reactors Proposed, uncertain status 

Unit	Type	MWe each gross	Start construction
Leningrad II 5-6	VVER-1200	1200
North-west 1 & 2	BWR VK-300	300
Tatar 1 - 3	VVER-1200	1200
Yaroslavl	?
Chelyabinsk (S.Urals)	BN-1200?
Vladimir	?
Plants with low priority for UES:
Bashkira 1-4	PWR
Far East 1-4	PWR, 1/3  for Rusal smelter	1000

 

Transition to Fast Reactors 

The principal scheme of innovative nuclear power for Russia based on new technology platform envisages full recycling of fuel, balancing thermal and fast reactors, so that 100 GWe of total capacity requires only about 100 tonnes of input per year, from enrichment tails, natural uranium and thorium, with minor actinides being burned. About 100 t/yr of fission product wastes go to a geological repository. The BN-series fast reactor plans are part of Rosatom’s so-called Proryv, or “Breakthrough,” project, to develop fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle whose mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel will be reprocessed and recycled.

The BN-800 Beloyarsk-4 fast reactor designed by OKBM Afrikantov is intended to replace the BN-600 unit 3 at Beloyarsk, though the RUR 64 billion (US$ 2.05 billion) project has been delayed by lack of funds since construction start in 2006.  It is represented as the first Generation III reactor which, after 2020, will start to take a large share of Russian capacity as older designs are phased out.  Fast reactors are projected as comprising some 14 GWe by 2030 and 34 GWe of capacity by 2050.

This first BN-800 unit now seems to have adequate funding, though (as of January 2012) it is not due to start up until 2014 and be operational in 2015 due to earlier delays in equipment supplies.  Construction is expected to be finished in 2012, when testing and commissioning will begin, with first criticality in September 2014. Initial fuel will be uranium (about 75%) plus 100 vibropacked MOX assemblies and 66 pelletised MOX ones (of 565 total). It will change over to full pelletised MOX fuel about 2016 when the production line for it at MCC at Zheleznogorsk is operational and the fuel tested. Initial vibropacked fuel will be made by NIIAR, initial pelletised MOX at PA Mayak.   The construction funds included $280 million in 2008, RUR 6.7 billion ($227 million) in 2009, and similar in 2010. The first unit is intended to demonstrate the use of MOX fuel at industrial scale, including that made from weapons plutonium, and justify the closed fuel cycle technology.

In May 2009 St Petersburg Atomenergopoekt (SPb AEP) said it was starting design work on a BN-800 reactor for China, where two are planned at Sanming - Chinese Demonstration Fast Reactors (CDFR). They will use pelletised MOX fuel, initially from MCC.  A high-level agreement was signed in October 2009, and an intergovernmental agreement relating to them is expected in 2012, to enable 2013 construction start.

OKBM Afrikantov in Zarechny is developing a BN-1200 reactor, and the design is expected to be complete by 2014, partly funded by federal nuclear technology program. OKBM expects to commission the first unit with MOX fuel in 2020, then eight more to 2030. SPb AEP also claims design involvement. Rosenergoatom said it was ready to involve foreign specialists in its design, with India and China particularly mentioned. Rosatom's Science and Technology Council has approved the BN-1200 reactor for Beloyarsk as unit 5, possibly to be operational about 2020. Early in 2012 Roastom said two such units would be built there, either BN-1200 or BN-1600. In May 2012 Rosenergoatom started environmental assessment for a BN-1200 unit as Beloyarsk-5. It will use an evaporative cooling tower, and start construction in 2015. Further details below in Reactor Technology section.

The Chelyabinsk regional government has reported that three BN-1200s are to be built at South Urals plant, coming on line from 2021, but this is unconfirmed.

Moving in the other direction, and downsizing from BN-800 etc, a pilot 100 MWe SVBR-100 unit is to be built at RIIAR Dimitrovgrad by AKME-Engineering by about 2017. This is a modular lead-bismuth cooled fast neutron reactor concept from OKB Gidropress, and is designed to meet regional needs in Russia and abroad. Details are in Small Nuclear Reactors paper.

Rosatom put forward two fast reactor implementation options for government decision in relation to the Advanced Nuclear Technologies Federal Program 2010-2020.  The first focused on a lead-cooled fast reactor such as BREST with its fuel cycle, and assumed mobilisation of all available resources on this project with a total funding of about RUR 140 billion (about $3.1 billion).  The second multi-track option was favoured, since it involved lower risks than the first.  It would result in technical designs of the Generation IV reactor and associated closed fuel cycles technologies by 2014, and a technological basis of the future innovative nuclear energy system featuring the Generation IV reactors working in closed fuel cycles by 2020.  A detailed design would be developed for a multi-purpose fast neutron research reactor (MBIR) by 2014 also. This second option was designed to attract more funds apart from the federal budget allocation, was favoured by Rosatom, and was accepted.

In January 2010 the government approved the federal target program (FTP) "New-generation nuclear energy technologies for the period 2010-2015 and up to 2020" designed to bring a new technology platform for the nuclear power industry based on fast neutron reactors.  It anticipated RUR 110 billion to 2020 out of the federal budget, including RUR 60 billion for fast reactors, and subsequent announcements started to allocate funds among three types: BREST, SVBR and continuing R&D on sodium cooled types.  The FTP implementation will enable commercializing new fast neutron reactors for Russia to build over 2020-2030. Rosatom's long-term strategy up to 2050 involves moving to inherently safe nuclear plants using fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle and MOX fuel.

 Federal target Program Funding for Fast Neutron Reactors to 2020 

cooling	Demonstration reactor	timing	Construction RUR billion	R&D RUR billion	Total RUR billion
Pb-Bi cooled	SVBR 100 MWe	by 2017	10.153	3.075	13.228
Na cooled	(BN-600, BN-800)	to 2016	0	5.366	5.366
Pb cooled	BREST 300 MWe	2016-20	15.555	10.143	25.698
multiple	MBIR 150 MWt	2012-20	11.390	5.042	16.432
	Total:		37.1		60.7

 Source: Government decree #50, 2010.  Mosr (RUR 9.5 billion) of the funding for SVBR construction is from "other sources". 

In September 2012 Rosatom announced that a pilot demonstration BREST-300 fast reactor with associated fuel cycle facilities including dense nitride fuel fabrication would be built at the Siberian Chemical Combine in Seversk, near Tomsk. RUR 25 billion ($809 million) has been budgeted for the reactor and RUR 17 billion ($550 million) for the fuel cycle facilities. NIKIET expects to finish the BREST design in 2014, to allow construction over 2016-20. If it is successful as a 300 MWe unit, a 1200 MWe version will follow.

Starting 2020-25 it is envisaged that fast neutron reactors will play an increasing role in Russia, though these will probably be new designs such as BREST with a single core and no blanket assembly for plutonium production.  An optimistic scenario has expansion to 90 GWe nuclear capacity by 2050. 

In September 2010 Rosatom said that the MBIR program at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR or NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad would be open to foreign collaboration, in connection with the IAEA INPRO program. The 150 MWt MBIR unit is expected to be built by 2019. 

See also Fast Reactors, in Reactor Technology section below.

Aluminium and nuclear power 

In 2006 the major aluminium producer SUAL (which in March 2007 became part of RUSAL) signed an agreement with Rosatom to support investment in new nuclear capacity at Kola, to power expanded aluminium smelting there from 2013. Four units totalling 1000 MWe were envisaged for Kola stage 2 underpinned by a 25-year contract with SUAL, but economic feasibility is in doubt and the project appears to have been dropped and replaced by two others.

Since 2007 Rosatom and RUSAL, now the world's largest aluminium and alumina producer, have been undertaking a feasibility study on a nuclear power generation and aluminium smelter at Primorye in Russia's far east.  This proposal is taking shape as a US$ 10 billion project involving four 1000 MWe reactors and a 600,000 t/yr smelter with Atomstroyexport having a controlling share in the nuclear side.  The smelter would require about one third of the output from 4 GWe, and electricity exports to China and North and South Korea are envisaged.

In October 2007 a $8 billion project was announced for the world's biggest aluminium smelter at Balakovo in the Saratov region, complete with two new nuclear reactors to power it.  The 1.05 million tonne per year aluminium smelter is to be built by RUSAL and would require about 15 billion kWh/yr. The initial plan was for the existing Balakovo nuclear power plant of four 950 MWe reactors to be expanded with two more - the smelter would require a little over one third of the output of the expanded power plant. However, in February 2010 it was reported that RUSAL proposed to build its own 2000 MWe nuclear power station, Balakovo AES2, with construction to start in 2011.  The overall budget for the energy and metals complex was estimated by the Minister of Investment in the Saratov District to be about $12 billion.  Land has been allotted for the project and design has commenced. Aluminium smelting is energy-intensive and requires reliable low-cost electricity to be competitive.  Increasingly it is also carbon-constrained -  this smelter will emit about 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year just from anode consumption.

RUSAL has announced an agreement with the regional government which will become effective when the nuclear plant expansion is approved by Rosatom or an alternative is agreed. Balakovo units 5 & 6 have been listed as prospective for some time but were dropped off the 2007-08 Rosatom plan for completing 26 new power reactors by 2020 as they were low priority for UES grid supply. Balakovo is on the Volga River 800 km SE of Moscow.

Meanwhile, and relevant to these proposals, in 2011 Renova's Integrated Energy Systems (IES) Holding, Russia’s largest privately-owned power producer and supplier, agreed to sell its 141 MWe Bogoslovskaya CHP plant to RUSAL in mid 2012, along with the rights to develop a new 230 MWe combined cycle gas turbine unit at the plant, in the central region of Sverdlovsk. This deal, along with another for a supply contract from the Federal Grid Company, enables RUSAL's Bogoslovosk smelter to continue operating. These arrangements were made at presidential level, and will absolve the Bogoslovskaya smelter from paying the cross-subsidy from industrial consumers to other electricity users that is inherent in the general distribution tariff.

Nuclear icebreakers and merchant ship 

Nuclear propulsion has proven technically and economically essential in the Russian Arctic where operating conditions are beyond the capability of conventional icebreakers.  The power levels required for breaking ice up to 3 metres thick, coupled with refuelling difficulties for other types of vessels, are significant factors.  The nuclear fleet has increased Arctic navigation from 2 to 10 months per year, and in the Western Arctic, to year-round.  Greater use of the icebreaker fleet is expected with developments on the Yamal Peninsula and further east.

The icebreaker Lenin was the world’s first nuclear-powered surface vessel (20,000 dwt) and remained in service for 30 years (1959-89), though new reactors were fitted in 1970.

It led to a series of larger icebreakers, the six 23,500 dwt Arktika-class, launched from 1975.  These powerful vessels have two 171 MWt OK-900 reactors delivering 54 MW at the propellers and are used in deep Arctic waters.  The Arktika was the first surface vessel to reach the North Pole, in 1977.  The seventh and largest Arktika class icebreaker - 50 Years of Victory (50 Let Pobedy) entered service in 2007.  It is 25,800 dwt, 160 m long and 20m wide, and is designed to break through ice up to 2.8 metres thick.  Its performance in service has been impressive.

For use in shallow waters such as estuaries and rivers, two shallow-draught Taymyr-class icebreakers of 18,260 dwt with one reactor delivering 35 MW were built in Finland and then fitted with their nuclear steam supply system in Russia.  They are built to conform with international safety standards for nuclear vessels and were launched from 1989.

Larger third-generation 'universal' LK-60 icebreakers are planned as dual-draught wide-beam ships of 25,450 dwt or 33,500 dwt with ballast, able to handle three metres of ice. In August 2012 Baltijsky Zavod Shipbuilding won the contract for the first new-generation LK-60 icebreaker powered by two RITM-200 reactors delivering 60 MW at the propellers via twin turbine-generators and three motors. It expects orders for three. Rosatomflot expects to have the first one commissioned in 2018 at a cost of RUR 37 billion.  In January 2013 Rosatom called for bids to build two more of these universal icebreaker vessels, for delivery in 2019 and 2020.  A more powerful LK-110 icebreaker of 110 MW net and 55,600 dwt is planned.

Diagram of LK-60 icebreaker (Source: Rosatom) 

 In 1988 the NS Sevmorput was commissioned in Russia, mainly to serve northern Siberian ports.  It is a 61,900 tonne 260 m long lash-carrier (taking lighters to ports with shallow water) and container ship with ice-breaking bow.  It is powered by the same KLT-40 reactor as used in larger icebreakers, delivering 32.5 propeller MW from the 135 MWt reactor and it needed refuelling only once to 2003.

Russian experience with nuclear powered Arctic ships totals about 300 reactor-years in 2009.  In 2008 the Arctic fleet was transferred from the Murmansk Shipping Company under the Ministry of Transport to Atomflot, under Rosatom.

Floating nuclear power plants (FNPP) 

Rosatom was planning to build seven or eight floating nuclear power plants by 2015. The first of them was to be constructed and tehn remain at Severodvinsk with intended completion in 2010, but plans changed.  Each FNPP has two 35 MWe KLT-40S nuclear reactors. (If primarily for desalination this set-up is known as APVS-80.)  The operating life is envisaged as 38 years: three 12-year campaigns with a year's maintenance outage in between.

A decision to commit to building a series is envisaged in 2014 when the first is near commissioning. The actual hulls might be built in South Korea or China, and fitted out in Russia. Rosenergoatom earlier signed an agreement with JSC Kirov Factory to build further units, and Kirov subsidiary Kirov Energomash was expected to be the main non-nuclear contractor on these.
 

The keel of the first floating nuclear power plant, named Academician Lomonosov, was laid in April 2007 at Sevmash in Severodvinsk, but in August 2008 Rosatom cancelled the contract (apparently due to the military workload at Sevmash) and transferred it to the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard  at St Petersburg, which has experience in building nuclear icebreakers. After signing a new RUR 9.98 billion contract in February, new keel-laying took place in May 2009 and the two reactors were delivered from OKBM Afrikantov by August. The 21,500 tonne hull (144 metres long, 30 m wide) was launched at the end of June 2010. Under the 2009 contract it was due to be handed over in May 2012.

 

The site then planned for its deployment was Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka peninsula, to ensure sustainable electricty and heat supplies to the naval base there. Completion and towing to the site is expected in 2012 and grid connection in 2013, but due to insolvency of the shipyard JSC Baltijsky Zavod* and ensuing legal processes it is delayed considerably. The project is variously reported as being only 35%, or perhaps 60%, complete, but barely any work was done over 2011-12 after some RUR 2 billion allocated to finance the construction apparently disappeared. The state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation acquired the shipyard in 2012 and a new contract with Baltijsky Zavod-Sudostroyeniye (BZS), the successor of the bankrupt namesake, was signed in December 2012. The cost of completing the FNPP was then put at RUR 7.631 billion ($248 million). Rosenergoatom now hopes to take delivery in September 2016. In June 2009 Rostechnadzor approved the environmental review for the siting license for the facility, as well as the justification of investment in it.

* a subsidiary of privately-owned United Industrial Corporation. 

The reactor assembling and acceptance tests were carried out at Nizhniy Novgorod Machine Engineering Plant (NMZ). Three companies had contributed: OKBM (development of design and technical follow-up of the manufacture and testing), Izhorskiye Zavody (manufacture of the reactor pressure vessel), and NMZ (manufacture of component parts and reactor assembling).  The revised cost was reported as being RUR 16 billion, but this figure was expected to fall for subsequent units. 

The second plant of this size was planned for Pevek on the Chukotka peninsula in the Chaun district of the far northeast, near Bilibino, and designed to replace it and a 35 MWe thermal plant as a major component of the Chaun-Bilibino industrial hub. However, at the end of 2012 the Ministries of Defence, Energy and Industry agreed to make Pevek the site for the delayed first FNPP unit. Roesenergoatom said that the tariff revenue of Chutotka made it more attractive than the Vilyuchinsk naval base. A final decision is due early in 2013.

The third site is Chersky or Sakha in Yakutia. In June 2010 a "roadmap" for deployment of up to eight further FNPPs was expected, on the occasion of launching the barge for the first, but it has not appeared.   As of early 2009, four floating plants were designated for northern Yakutia in connection with the Elkon uranium mining project in southern Yakutia, and in 2007 an agreement was signed with the Sakha Republic (northeast Yakutia region) to build one of them, using smaller ABV-6 reactors.  Five were intended for use by Gazprom for offshore oil and gas field development and for operations on the Kola peninsula near Finland and the Yamal peninsula in central Siberia.  There is also perceived to be considerable export potential for the FNPPs, on a fully-serviced basis.  Electricity cost is expected to be much lower than from present alternatives.

The larger end of the FNPP range uses a pair of 325 MWe VBER-300 reactors on a 49,000 tonne barge, and a smaller one could use a single RITM-200 reactor, this being the likely successor to the KLT-40.  ATETs-80 and ATETs-200 are twin-reactor cogeneration units using KLT-40 and may be floating or land-based.  The former produces 85 MWe plus 120,000 m³/day of potable water.  The small ABV-6 reactor is 38 MW thermal and a pair mounted on a 97-metre barge is known as Volnolom floating NPP, producing 12-18 MWe plus 40,000 m³/day of potable water by reverse osmosis.

Heating 

In addition, 5 GW of thermal power plants (mostly AST-500 integral PWR type) for district and industrial heat will be constructed at Arkhangelesk (4 VK-300 units commissioned to 2016), Voronezh (2 units 2012-18), Saratov, Dimitrovgrad and (small-scale, KLT-40 type PWR) at Chukoyka and Severodvinsk.  Russian nuclear plants provided 11.4 PJ of district heating in 2005, and this is expected to increase to 30.8 PJ by about 2010.  (A 1000 MWe reactor produces about 95 PJ per year internally to generate the electricity.)

Heavy engineering and turbine generators 

The main reactor component supplier is OMZ's Komplekt-Atom-Izhora facility which is doubling the production of large forgings so as to be able to manufacture three or four pressure vessels per year from 2011.  OMZ subsidiary Izhorskiye Zavody is expected to produce the forgings for all new domestic AES-2006 model VVER-1200 nuclear reactors (four per year from 2016) plus exports.  At present Izhora can produce the heavy high-quality forgings required for Russia's VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors at the rate of two per year.  These forgings include reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, and heavy piping.  In 2008 the company rebuilt its 12,000 tonne hydraulic press, claimed to be the largest in Europe, and a second stage of work will increase that capacity to 15,000 tonnes. 

In May 2012 Rosenergoatom said that rector pressure vessels for its VVER-TOI reactors would be made by both Izhorskiye Zavody and the Ukrainian works Energomashspetsstal (EMSS) with Russian Petrozavodskmash. 

Petrozavodskmash makes steam generators and has the contract for RPV and various internals for Baltic 1 reactor. Izhorskiye Zavody is expected to supply these components for unit 2.

ZiO-Podolsk also makes steam generators, including those for Belene/ Kozloduy 7.
 

Turbine generators for the new plants are mainly from Power Machines (Silovye Mashiny - Silmash) subsidiary LMZ, which has six orders for high-speed (3000 rpm) turbines: four of 1200 MWe for Novovoronezh and Leningrad, plus smaller ones for Kalinin and Beloyarsk. The company plans also to offer 1200 MWe low-speed (1500 rpm) turbine generators from 2014, and is investing RUB 6 billion in a factory near St Petersburg to produce these. Silmash is 26% owned by Siemens.

Alstom Atomenergomash (AAEM) is a joint venture between French turbine manufacturer Alstom and Atomenergomash (AEM, an AEP subsidiary), which will produce low-speed turbine generators based on Alstom's Arabelle design, sized from 1200 to 1800 MWe.  The Baltic plant will be the first customer, in a RUB 35 billion order, with Russian content about 50%. This will increase to over 70% for subsequent projects. It will produce the Arabelle units at AEM’s newly-acquired Atommash plant at Volgodonsk for delivery in 2015.

Ukraine’s Turboatom is offering a 1250 MWe low-speed turbine generator for the VVER-TOI. Rosenergoatom says it insists on having at least two turbine vendors, and prefers three.
 

Reactor technology  

In September 2006 the technology future for Russia was focused on four elements:

• Serial construction of AES-2006 units, with increased service life to 60 years,
• Fast breeder BN-800,
• Small and medium reactors - KLT-40 and VBER-300,
• High temperature reactors (HTR).

VVER-1000, AES-92 

The main reactor design being deployed until now has been the V-320 version of the VVER-1000 pressurised water reactor with 950-1000 MWe net output. It is from OKB Gidropress (Experimental Design Bureau Hydropress), has 30-year basic design life and dates from the 1980s. A later version of this for export is the V-392, with enhanced safety and seismic features, as the basis of the AES-92 power plant. All models have four coolant loops, with horizontal steam generators. Maximum burn-up is 60 GWd/tU. VVER stands for water-cooled, water-moderated energy reactor.

Advanced versions of this VVER-1000 with western instrument and control systems have been built at Tianwan in China and are being built at Kudankulam in India - as AES-91 and AES-92 nuclear power plants respectively. The former was bid for Finland in 2002. The latter was bid for Sanmen and Yangjiang in China in 2005 and was accepted for Belene in Bulgaria in 2006. These have 40-year design life.  (Major components of the two designs are the same except for slightly taller pressure vessel in AES-91, but cooling and safety systems differ. The AES-92 has greater passive safety features features - 12 heat exchangers for passive decay heat removal, the AES-91 has extra seismic protection. The V-428 in the AES-91 is the first Russian reactor to have a core-catcher, V-412 in AES-92 also has core catcher.)

VVER-1200, AES-2006, MIR-1200 

Development of a third-generation standardised VVER-1200 reactor of about 1170 MWe net folloowed, as the basis of the AES-2006 power plant. Rosatom drew upon Gidropress, OKBM, Kurchatov Institute, Rosenergoatom, Atomstroyexport, three Atomenergoproekt outfits, VNIINPP and others.

 It provides about 1200 MWe gross from 3200 MWt. This is an evolutionary development of the well-proven VVER-1000/ V-320 and then the third-generation V-392 in the AES-92 plant, with longer life (60 year for non-replaceable equipment, not 30), greater power, and greater thermal efficiency (34.8% net instead of 31.6%).  Compared with the V-392, it has the same number of fuel assemblies (163) but a wider pressure vessel, slightly higher operating pressure and temperature, and higher burn-up (up to 70 GWd/t).  It retains four coolant loops.  Refueling cycle is up to 24 months. Construction time for serial units is "no more than 54 months".

The lead units are being built at Novovoronezh II (V-392M), to start operation in 2012-13, and at Leningrad II (V-491) for 2013-14. Both plants will use Areva's Teleperm safety instrument and control systems. Seversk, South Ural and Central are listed by Atomenergoproekt as the next projects.  Leningrad II's V-491 design built by Atomernergoproekt St Petersburg is quoted as the reference plant for further units at Tianwan in China, but the V-392M built by Atomernergoproekt Moscow is very similar apart from safety systems configuration.

A typical AES-2006 plant will be a twin set-up with two of these OKB Gidropress V-491 or V-392M reactor units expected to run for 60 years with capacity factor of 92%, and probably with Silmash turbine generators. Capital cost was said to be US$ 1200/kW (though the first contract of them is more like $2100/kW) and construction time 54 months. They have enhanced safety including that related to earthquakes and aircraft impact with some passive safety features and double containment.

In Europe the basic technology is being called the Europe-tailored reactor design, MIR-1200 (Modernized International Reactor), and bid for Temelin 3 & 4, Turkey and Finland.

VVER-TOI

A further evolution, indeed culmination, of the VVER-1200 design is the VVER-TOI (typical optimized, with enhanced information) design for the AES-2010 plant. This has upgraded pressure vessel with four welds rather than six, and will use a new steel which “removes nearly all limitations on RPV operation in terms of radiation embrittlement of metal”, making possible a service life of more than 60 years. It has increased power to 3300 MWt, 1255-1300 MWe gross (nominally 1300), improved core design to increase cooling reliability, further development of passive safety with 72-hour grace period requiring no operator intervention after shutdown, lower construction and operating costs, and 40-month construction time. It is claimed to require only 130-135 tonnes of natural uranium (compared with typical 190 tU now) per gigawatt year.  It will use a low-speed turbine-generator. 

The project was initiated in 2009 and the completed design was presented to the customer, Rosenergoatom at the end of 2012. It will be submitted to Rostechnadzor in 2013 for licensing, then for international certification in accordance with EUR requirements. EUR approval is seen as basic in many markets, notably China.  It appears the first units will be at Nizhny Novgorod, then Akkuyu in Turkey, then Kola II.  In June 2012 Rosatom said it would apply for VVER-1200 design certification in UK and USA, through Rusatom Overseas, probably with the VVER-TOI version. Development was by OKB Gidropress (chief designer), NRC Kurchatov Institute (scientific supervisor), All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute for Nuclear Power Plant Operation (VNIIAES - architect-engineer), and Nizhny-Novgorod Atomenergoproekt (NIAEP) jointly with Alstom (turbine island designer).

A Rosenergoatom account of the safety features of the reactor is on the Nuclear Engineering web site.

 

Russian PWR nuclear power reactors*  

Generic reactor type	Reactor plant model	Whole power plant
VVER-200	-	prototype VVER
VVER-440	V-179	Novovoronezh 3-4, prototype VVER-440
	V-230	Kola 1-2, EU units closed down
	V-213	Kola 3-4, Loviisa, Paks, Dukovany, Bohunice V2, Mochovce
VVER-640	V-407	(under development), Gen III+
VVER-300	V-478	(under development. based on VVER-640), Gen III+
VVER-600	V-498	(under development, based on V-491), Gen III+
VVER-1000	V-187	Novovoronezh 5, prototype VVER-1000
	V-320	most Russian & Ukraine plants, Kozloduy 5-6, Temelin
	V-338	Kalinin 1-3, Temelin 1&2, S. Ukraine 2
	V-446	based on V-392, adapted to previous Siemens work, Bushehr
	V-413	AES-91
	V-428	AES-91 Tianwan and Vietnam, based on V-392, Gen III
	V-412	AES-92 Kudankulam, based on V-392, Gen III
	V-392	AES-92 - meets EUR standards, Armenia, Khmelnitsky 3-4, Gen III
	V-392B	AES-92
	V-466	AES-91/99 Olkiluoto bid, developed from V-428, Gen III
	V-466B	AES-92 Belene/ Kozloduy 7, developed from V-412 & V-466, 60-year lifetime
VVER-1200	V-392M	AES-2006 by Moscow AEP, Novovoronezh, Seversk, Central, S.Urals, Developed from V-392 and V-412, Gen III+
	V-491	AES-2006 by StP AEP, Leningrad, Baltic, Belarus, Akkuyu?, developed from V-466 and V-428, Gen III+
VVER-1200A	V-501	(concept proposal) AES-2006, Gen III+
VVER-1300	V-488	AES-2006M, Gen III+
VVER-TOI	V-510	AES-2010, Gen III+
VVER-1500	V-448	(under development), Gen III+
VVER-1800		(concept proposal)
VVER-SCP	V-393	(concept proposal), supercritical, Gen IV

 AES=NPP.  Early V numbers referred to models which were widely built in several countries, eg V-230, V-320. Then the V-392 seemed to be a general export version of the V-320. Later V numbers are fairly project-specific.  Broadly the first digit of the number is the VVER generation, the second is the reactor system and the third – and any suffix - relates to the building.
Generation III or III+ ratings are as advised by Gidropress, but not necessarily accepted internationally. 

 

Gidropress shows the VVER-1200 /V-392M and V-491 reactors evolving into VVER-1300 /V-488 (in AES-2006M power plant) 4-loop designs, and into the VVER-1200A /V-501 (similar, but 2-loop design) reactors in the next few years. This then evolves to the VVER-1800 with 3 loops. The AES-2006M has an uprated VVER-1200 with less conservative design and new steam generators, giving it 1300 MWe. The VVER-1200A/ V-501 is expected to have lower construction cost. The 4-loop VVER-1200 also evolves to the half-sized VVER-600 with only two loops.

While Gidropress is responsible for the actual 1200 MWe reactor, Moscow AEP and St Petersburg AEP are going different ways on the cooling systems, and one or the other may be chosen for future plants once Leningrad II and Novovoronezh II are operating. Passive safety systems prevail in Moscow’s V-392M design, while St Petersburg’s V-491 design focuses on active safety systems based on Tianwan V428 design.*

* V-392M has two active safety channels, while V-491 has four, and turbine hall layouts are also different. In the V-392M there is a focus placed on avoidance of redundancy, aiming at higher cost-effectiveness of the plant construction and operation. Both V-392M and V-491 designs include a common emergency core cooling system (ECCS) passive section, but in the V-392M the ECCS active section is represented by a combined two-channel high and low pressure system, while the V-491 utilizes a segregated four-channel high and low pressure system. The V-392M design features a closed two-channel steam generator emergency cool-down system, whereas the V491 uses a traditional four-channel emergency feedwater system. To mitigate consequences of beyond design basis accidents involving total loss of AC power sources, both designs use a passive heat removal system, which is air-cooled in the V-392M and water-cooled in the V-491. Additionally, the V-392M design is fitted with a four-channel emergency passive core flooding system.