New nuclear power plants will ensure Russia's economic growth for decades
Rosatom, which has been building nuclear power plants mainly abroad in recent years, is expanding its view on the Russian market. The company plans to build 11 new nuclear power plants in Russia. And this is not taking into account the replacement of several old nuclear power plants. Why does Russia need new nuclear power plants and how can they surprise the world?
About 11 new nuclear power plants will be built in Russia by 2042. Such a proposal is contained in the general layout of electric power facilities.
New small and large nuclear power plants are planned to be built in the Rostov, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Tomsk regions, as well as in the Primorsky, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk Territories, in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and Yakutia. Two nuclear power plants will be built in Chukotka and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
In addition to these new 11 nuclear power plants, the project provides for the replacement of the capacities of old nuclear power plants. The Kola NPP-2, Kursk NPP-2 and Smolensk NPP-2 will have to be put into operation.
The goal is to implement the instruction of the President of Russia and achieve a 25% share of nuclear energy by 2045. "The new general scheme provides for the construction of 28 gigawatts of new nuclear power generation by 2042. By implementing such an ambitious task, we will be able to provide the country's regions with clean energy for decades to come and create a base for confident economic growth," said the CEO of Rosatom.
Rosatom has previously been criticized for promoting its projects mainly abroad – in Turkey, China, Bangladesh, India, Egypt, Belarus and so on, that some projects have dubious economies, for example, in Belarus and Turkey, while there were practically no new nuclear projects in Russia. And then Rosatom declares that it will build 11 new nuclear power plants. It looks like a reversal to the domestic market. This will have a positive impact on the company's image," said Igor Yushkov, an expert at the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
On the other hand, now the company is criticized for the fact that the more it builds new nuclear power plants in Russia, the more it will lobby for tariff increases due to high project costs, that is, the creation of new capacities may provoke tariff increases, the expert notes.
"Therefore, it is important that the goal is not just to build new nuclear power plants, but to calculate the economics of new projects and build where it will be more economically efficient to build a nuclear power plant, rather than a conventional thermal power plant powered by coal or gas," the FNEB expert believes.
As for demand, it will grow by 1-2% per year. Such growth will ensure the growth of industry and the improvement of living standards of the population, which consume more and more electricity, therefore additional generation capacity is needed, says Alexey Anpilogov, an expert in the field of nuclear energy, President of the Foundation for Scientific Research and Development of Civil Initiatives Foundation. There are more and more gadgets, and the use of air conditioners in summer is becoming more frequent. Plus, any power plants need to be rebuilt after 45 years of operation, the expert adds.
There is a shortage of electrical capacity in the south due to the constant growth in demand. "There are population flows. And one of the fastest growing regions is the Southern Federal District. People move to live in Stavropol, Krasnodar Territory, Crimea, Rostov region, where the population is growing at times," says Anpilogov. Tourists in the summer season also require more comfort, air conditioning and amusement parks with illumination.
"In Crimea, at one time, the idea of building a nuclear power plant was abandoned, because it is an earthquake–prone region, they decided not to risk and make an energy bridge from the Kuban, and develop a nuclear power plant in Rostov so that there would be additional capacities," the expert says.
"The growth of Moscow and the Moscow region also requires the creation of additional capacities. Smolensk and Kursk regions are convenient regions to locate nuclear generation facilities there.",
– explains Anpilogov.
The growth of electricity consumption is provided by the growing industry – manufacturing and military. "The military-industrial complex has been a driver of the development of the Russian economy in recent years, and its growth will not stop immediately even when the armed conflict in Ukraine ends. The military-industrial complex will continue to work on both resupply and export, as Russia has a chance to modernize its army and provide samples of weapons tested in modern combat operations for export. The demand for weapons has a multiplier effect on metals and other industries where energy is needed. Therefore, new nuclear power plants will appear in industrial regions of the country that consume a lot of energy, for example, in the Chelyabinsk region," says Yushkov.
In Yakutia and Chukotka, the population is scanty and consumes little energy, but there are a number of large industrial facilities, and low-power nuclear power plants will be commissioned for these industrial facilities, the expert adds. The Baim floating nuclear power plant will be built, for example, for the operation of the Baim GOK (mining and processing plant) in Chukotka.
Which reactors will be built and installed at new nuclear power plants?
"In this project, for the first time, VVER-toi reactors will be installed at the Kursk NPP, which will replace the VVER-1200 reactors of the third generation. VVER-toi is already generation three plus, transitioning to the fourth, so far experimental, generation. VVER-toi not only has more power, but also is more technologically advanced, safe and efficient in terms of efficiency," says Anpilogov.
For remote regions, the expert continues, where consumption is lower and it is more profitable to install reactors of lower power, VVER-C reactors will be used. These reactors are being tested for the first time at the Kola NPP.
And the third type of reactor is the BN-1200. This is a fast neutron reactor. Spent nuclear fuel, plutonium, which is produced in conventional reactors, is used as fuel for it. The mixture of this plutonium with uranium gives MOX fuel for the operation of the BN-1200,
Anpilogov tells us.
After the new VVER-toi and VVER-C reactors are built at the Kursk and Kola stations, Rosatom will probably present them on the international market. Small-capacity reactors can be offered to island or small states, for example. "First, the company makes reference nuclear power plants with new reactors in Russia, where it shows all its advantages and features, and only then offers for export. For example, the VVER-1200 of the third generation was tested at the Novovoronezh NPP," explains Anpilogov.
"Having a global world leader in the nuclear industry represented by Rosatom, it is logical to develop almost carbon-free energy. Russia has a unique feature in the energy sector – back in Soviet times, for various reasons, an energy base was laid using carbon dioxide-free nuclear power plants and hydroelectric power plants. Both of these types of power plants have a serious advantage over solar and wind power plants – they operate continuously and allow you to adjust the output power, smoothing out consumption peaks. At the same time, battery stations are not required to store energy, whose production itself is very energy-intensive, not so much because of the complexity, but because of the need for recycling and disposal. Nuclear power plants feed, among other things, one of the most energy–consuming industries – metallurgy," says Pavel Sevostyanov, Acting State Councilor of the Russian Federation, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanov.
Germany, which abandoned nuclear energy under pressure from climate activists, now buys the missing energy from France, which remains the world leader in terms of the share of total output in the energy balance – over 70%, Sevostyanov concludes.
Olga Samofalova
