Russian floating nuclear power station
Floating nuclear power stations (Russian: плавучая атомная теплоэлектростанция малой мощности, ПАТЭС ММ , lit. 'floating combined heat and power (CHP) low-power nuclear power plant') are vessels designed by Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation. They are self-contained, low-capacity, floating nuclear power plants. Rosatom plans to mass-produce the stations at shipbuilding facilities and then tow them to ports near locations that require electricity.
The work on such a concept dates back to the MH-1A in the United States, which was built in the 1960s into the hull of a World War II Liberty Ship,[ 1] which was followed on much later in 2022 when the United States Department of Energy funded a three-year research study of offshore floating nuclear power generation.[ 2] The Rosatom project is the first floating nuclear power plant intended for mass production. The initial plan was to manufacture at least seven of the vessels by 2015.[ 3] On 14 September 2019, Russia’s first-floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, arrived to its permanent location in the Chukotka region.[ 4] It started operation on 19 December 2019.[ 5]
The project for a floating nuclear power station began in 2000, when the Ministry for Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (Rosatom) chose Severodvinsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast as the construction site, Sevmash was appointed as general contractor.[ 6] Construction of the first power station, the Akademik Lomonosov, started on 15 April 2007 at the Sevmash Submarine-Building Plant in Severodvinsk. In August 2008 construction works were transferred to the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg, which is also responsible for the construction of future vessels.[ 7] Akademik Lomonosov was launched on 1 July 2010,[ 8] at an estimated cost of 6 billion rubles (232 m$).[ 9] In 2015 construction of a second vessel starting in 2019 was announced by Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom.[ 10]
