Nuclear power in Russia

Recent history

In accordance with legislation passed in 2001, all Russian civil reactors are operated by Rosenergoatom. More recently in 2007, Russian Parliament adopted the law "On the peculiarities of the management and disposition of the property and shares of organizations using nuclear energy and on relevant changes to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation", which created Atomenergoprom - a holding company for all Russian civil nuclear industry, including Energoatom, nuclear fuel producer and supplier TVEL, uranium trader Tekhsnabexport (Tenex) and nuclear facilities constructor Atomstroyexport.

In 2011, 11 RBMK reactors were given life extensions and uprated in output by about 5%. Environmentalists Aleksandr Nikitin and Igor Koudrik say that these reactors are of an "inherently unsafe design", which cannot be improved through upgrades and modernization, and some reactor parts are impossible to replace. Russian environmental groups say that the lifetime extensions "violate Russian law, because the projects have not undergone environmental assessments". But officials and scientists from various institutions have claimed that the reactors have undergone serious modifications and are safe. 4 of them have subsequently been shut down.

]] The overnight cost of construction in the seventies was a low 800 $/kW in 2016 dollars. In 2019, a S&P Global Ratings report stated Russia's nuclear construction costs were well below European levels because of vertical integration, good learning-curve effects from serial production, and the large currency devaluation of 2014.

The Russian nuclear industry employs around 200,000 people. Russia is recognized for its nuclear disaster expertise and for the safety of its technology. Statements made in the review of Russian reactor safety [8] that "Requirements on placing the nuclear installation should not contain additional restrictions in comparison with other industrial facilities," suggest that nuclear plants could be placed within cities and are not considered to pose exceptional dangers. Russia is also pursuing an ambitious plan to increase sales of Russian-built reactors overseas, and had 39 reactors under construction or planned overseas as of 2018.

The VVER-1200 pressurised water reactor is the system currently offered for construction, being an evolution of the VVER-1000 with increased power output to about 1200 MWe (gross) and providing additional passive safety features. In August 2016, the first VVER-1200, Novovoronezh II-1, was connected to the grid.

Through its membership in the multi-nation ITER project, Russia participates in the design of nuclear fusion reactors.

In 2013, the Russian state allocated 80.6 billion rubles ($2.4 billion) toward the growth of its nuclear industry, especially export projects where Russian companies build, own and operate the power station, such as the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.

In 2016, initial plans were announced to build 11 new nuclear power reactors by 2030, including the first VVER-600, a smaller two-cooling-circuit version of the VVER-1200, designed for smaller regions and markets. Outline plans for near-surface disposal facilities for low and intermediate-level waste, and deep burial disposal facilities for high-level waste were also approved in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region.

In October 2017, Rosatom was reported to be considering postponing commissioning new nuclear plants in Russia due to excess generation capacity and that new nuclear electricity prices are higher than for existing plants. The Russian government is considering reducing support for new nuclear under its support contracts, called Dogovor Postavki Moshnosti (DPM), which guarantee developers a return on investment through increased payments from consumers for 20 years. In 2019, a S&P Global Ratings report stated that "We expect domestic nuclear capacity to increase only moderately because electricity demand in Russia is stagnating, given only modest GDP growth, a significant potential for energy savings, and the government's intention to avoid raising electricity prices through additional increases in capacity payments".

Russia's first floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, is equipped to provide power to a remote Russian town on the Bering Strait. The nuclear unit features small modular reactors (SMRs) technology.

Nuclear power reactors

Reactors in operation

Seven of Russia's reactors are of the RBMK 1000 type, similar to the one at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The rest of the reactors are PWR designs from the VVER series.

International projects

In addition Atomstroyexport challenging NPP projects list contains:

• Temelin NPP Power Units 3/4 (Czech Republic)
• Jordan NPP (single-unit NPP with an option for the second power unit)
• Metsamor NPP Power Units 3/4 (Armenia)
• NPP with the Reactor Plant VBER-300 (Kazakhstan)
• Sanming NPP (China)

In March 2022, Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, now operated by Rosatom.

In August 2022, the Hungarian Nuclear Energy Authority authorized Rosatom to expand the nuclear power plant at Paks with two new VVER reactors with capacity of 1.2 gigawatts each.{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/hungary-licenses-two-new-reactors-paks-nuclear-plant-2022-08-26/|title=Hungary licenses two new reactors at Paks nuclear plant

Nuclear engineering companies

• Atomenergomash: power engineering company; produces steam generators for NPPs
• Atommash: by far Russia's largest nuclear engineering company designed to build up to 8 reactors per year.
• Atomstroyexport: nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly
• OKBM Afrikantov: nuclear reactor design and engineering company. The world's leading company in production of fast breeder reactors.
• OKB Gidropress: nuclear reactor design and engineering company

Safety

Rosatom, responding to the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, announced that it would perform "stress tests" on all its reactors "to judge their ability to withstand earthquakes more powerful than the original design anticipated".

References

References

1. "Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation ROSATOM global leader in nuclear technologies nuclear energy".
2. Igor Koudrik and Alexander Nikitin. (13 December 2011). "Second life: The questionable safety of life extensions for Russian nuclear power plants". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
3. "USA. (1982). Technology and Soviet energy availability. Boulder (Colo.: Westview press.".
4. (21 March 2011). "Nuclear rethink urged". The Moscow News.
5. (11 October 2012). "Benchmarking the global nuclear industry 2012 Heading for a fast recovery". [[Ernst & Young]].
6. (21 August 2013). "Rosatom today and overview of its current and prospective Nuclear Power Plant projects". [[Rosatom]].
7. (4 November 2013). "International Standards of Safety and the Modern Projects of Nuclear Power Stations". [[Rosatom]].
8. (6 November 2013). "Russia's efforts to improve safety following the Chernobyl and the Fukushima accidents". IBRAE.
9. [http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/russia-nuclear-renaissance-novovorenezh-exports] Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting
10. (7 August 2018). "Russia leads the world at nuclear-reactor exports". The Economist.
11. Nikolay Fil. (26–28 July 2011). "Status and perspectives of VVER Status and perspectives of VVER nuclear power plants nuclear power plants". IAEA.
12. (5 August 2016). "Russia connects Novovoronezh 6 reactor to grid". World Nuclear News.
13. (20 December 2013). "Russia invests in nuclear". World Nuclear News.
14. (10 August 2016). "Russia to build 11 new nuclear reactors by 2030". World Nuclear News.
15. (April 2023). "Russian nuclear energy diplomacy and its implications for energy security in the context of the war in Ukraine". Nature Energy.
16. (30 October 2017). "Rosatom considers delaying reactor commissioning". Nuclear Engineering International.
17. (12 July 2019). "State support pivotal to Russia's nuclear sector, says report". World Nuclear News.
18. (15 September 2019). "Rosatom's floating nuclear power unit arrives in Chukotka, Russia".
19. [http://www.atomstroyexport.ru/wps/wcm/connect/ase/eng/about/NPP+Projects/Perspective Challenging NPP Projects] JSC ASE
20. [http://www.atomstroyexport.ru/wps/wcm/connect/ase/eng/about/NPP+Projects/Perspective/Jordan/Jordan NPP] JSC ASE ([[Jordan]])
21. Matthew L. Wald. (24 March 2011). "Russia Plans to Test Reactors For Ability to Survive Quakes". The New York Times.