SUMMARY:
This may sound
too good to be true,
but it is true.
There's a
new technology
providing safe,
and CONSISTENT,
electricity, with
no CO2 emissions,
at an attractive price !
It works on days with no wind.
It works at night with no sunlight.
So, of course, I imagine
the climate alarmists
will be against it !
This important engineering
breakthrough will impact
global electricity generation.
I'm talking about the first
floating nuclear power plant
used to generate electricity
for people living near the water !
Russia operates 11
nuclear power plants,
including the very unusual
Akademik Lomonosov.
The Akademik Lomonosov
floating nuclear power plant
reached the port city of Pevek
in Russia’s Chukotka
on September 14, 2019.
It had moved 4,700km
from Murmansk.
After connecting
to power grids there,
it will become an
electricity producing
"facility", for the city
of Pevek and the
Chukotka
Autonomous
Region.
It will replace
the capacity of the
Bilibino Nuclear
Power Plant, which
will be stopped
in early 2020.
DETAILS:
The Akademik
Lomonosov
is the lead project
for (relatively)
low-power
mobile power
plants.
The project cost
was expected
to be $140 million,
but increased
to $574 million,
including
$107 million
for coastal
infrastructure.
Floating nuclear
power plants
( FNPPs )
in the Far North,
and the Far East,
are a new class
of energy sources,
based on Russian
nuclear shipbuilding
technologies.
Two KLT-40S
icebreaker-type reactors
can generate up to 70 MW
of electricity, and 50 Gcal/h
of thermal energy, enough
for a city of 100,000 people.
The Akademik
Lomonosov
is 144 meters long,
and 30 meters wide.
Displacement
is 21 500 tones,
and the crew
is 69 people.
The reactors
were designed by
OKBM Afrikantov, and
assembled by Nizhniy
Novgorod Research and
the Development Institute
Atomenergoproekt.
The FNPP’s planned
service life is 40 years.
Core reloading is required
every three years.
Core reloading and storage
of spent fuel is all
on board the FNPP.
The FNPP can carry
enough enriched uranium
to power the two reactors
for 12 years.
Then it be towed back
to Russia, where the
radioactive waste
will be processed.
These power units
would allow creating
desalination plants
on their bases.
The State Atomic
Energy Corporation,
Rosatom, is working on
the second generation
FNPP, called the
Optimized Floating
Power Unit.
It will be smaller,
and more powerful.
using two RITM-200M
reactors, with a total
capacity of 100 MW.
Russia’s Energy giant,
Gazprom, has plans
to use at least 5 FNPPs
for oil and gas field
development.
FNPPs would be
very useful along the
Northern Sea Route,
in and around the Arctic.
According to Rosatom,
15 nations, including China,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria,
Namibia, Cape Verde and
Argentina, have shown
interest in hiring floating
nuclear power plants.
African states with energy
and fresh water shortages
really need FNPPs, but
may not be able
to afford them.
FNPPs could be used for
water desalination plants,
solving an important
humanitarian issue
in Africa.
I imagine floating
nuclear power plants
could also be used on rivers,
although that might trigger
"Not in My Back Yard"
protests.