The plenary session Role of Nuclear Industry in Technological Sovereignty Assurance and Future Technologies was held on June, 16, 2023 at the XXVI St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2023) with the support of ROSATOM.
The event was attended by: Thaung Han, Minister of Electric Power of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; Mikhail Chudakov, Deputy Director General and Head of the IAEA Atomic Energy Department; Mikhail Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Anton Alikhanov, Governor of Kaliningrad Region; Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, and others. Elina Tikhonova, TV presenter from RBK channel, acted as the moderator.
The session participants discussed the issues of the integrated economic development system arrangement and the role of green power engineering projects (in particular nuclear) in that system.
Alexey Likhachev stated: “The RF President gave the directive to increase the share of nuclear power engineering in the energy balance of the country to 25% by 2045. The share of nuclear generation will reach 22-23% by the mid 2030-ies. Straining after achievement of these objectives we’ll have to make allowance for other participants of the electric power market continuously and monitor the growth of consumption and export within the Eurasian space. Construction projects have been launched: two more power units are being constructed in Leningrad Region, two power units of Kursk NPP, Smolensk and Kola NPPs are being expanded, a power unit with BN-1200 fast reactor will be built in the Beloyarsk NPP, and the world’s first power unit with the fourth generation reactor BREST-300 in Tomsk Region”.
He added that ROSATOM was planning to develop the SMR line. “Small capacity does not weigh much in the indicators, but it is important for us. Small-scale power units, probably of modular design, will become the reference platform for subsequent export. The global nuclear power engineering market is being rearranged now, and real plant models are important”.
Head of ROSATOM also confirmed the plans of regional expansion: “Nuclear power engineering will take a step over the Urals. At present the majority of the capacity is concentrated in the central part of the country. We must go to Siberia and the Far East”.
Commenting on the prospects for development of nuclear power engineering in the world Mikhail Chudakov, Deputy Director General and Head of the IAEA Atomic Energy Department, stated: “At present 31 countries are operating nuclear power engineering, and about 30 countries are planning to implement it. Shifting to Africa and Asia is in progress. They strain after energy independence and green energy. Many countries are seeking for small-scale power engineering, we are working with them and see positive developments. Nuclear power engineering is pushing countries and regions to a new economic level. Republic of Korea is the most prominent example”.
Mikhail Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, noted the success of ROSATOM in the area of import substitution: “ROSATOM is taking an active part in mastering the production of high-tech equipment for LNG. A cryogenic equipment test facility was commissioned in 2021 at one of the ROSATOM institutes. ROSATOM also participates in implementation of the federal project Breakthrough to LNG Markets with the key objective to increase the share of the Russian equipment to 80% by 2030. Moreover, ROSATOM will start commercial production of LNG pumps as early as this year. This is just a small portion of all works performed by ROSATOM in the area of machine building and mastering high technologies”.
The discussion participants agreed that nuclear industry played an important role to ensure increase in the number of orders for the allied industries. Anton Alikhanov, Governor of Kaliningrad Region, noted the importance of nuclear industry presence for the regional economics: “ROSATOM and TVEL have selected our region for construction of the first full-cycle plant in the country for production of lithium-ion batteries and energy storage systems. It will cover almost 20% of the electric propulsion market needs”.
