SMR-2020, the annual conference devoted to small moduclar reactors, took place in Prague on 13 February 2020. The Conference was organized by the Nuclear Physics Department, the Czech Technical Unifersity in Prage, under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.
At the Conference, Artem Larionov, Senior Specialist at the Product Marketing, Rusatom Overseas, made his speech about ROSATOM’s current developments in the field of small modular reacotrs.
In particular, he presented RITM-200, an advanced water-water reactor, combining all the strong points of its predecessors. According to A. Larionov, the reactor main advantages include its cost-efficiency, small size and safety. RITM-200 is intended for nuclear ice-breakers, land-based small NPPs, and floating nuclear power plants. “This is our reference reactor as we have already constructed six RITM-200 reactors by now. Two reactors onboard “Arktika” icebreaker has already been commissioned,” pointed out Larionov. The speaker also highlighted the features of “Akademik Lomonosov”, the first world floating nuclear power plant, that was connected to the grid at the end of 2019 and started supplying electricity to the grid. At present, Rosatom is working on Gen 2 FNPP, an optimized floating power unit (OFPU).
Talking about ROSATOM’s developments in the field of land-based small reactors, Larionov noted: “Widespread introduction of small reactors, including the land-based small NPP with RITM -200, requires our meeting a number of challenges: harmoized safety standards, standartized design, efficient plant life cycle and flexible business models”.
Svjatoslav Pikh, Manager at the Small Power Projects, Rusatom Overseas, as the conference participant made his presentation devoted to the construction of a pilot land-based small NPP in Russia. ROSATOM is now selecting a construction site. We are considering several options including sites in the Urals, in Yakutia and Chukotka. Pikh noted that small reacors are perfect for remote regions as they make it possible to increase the efficiency of the regional industry sector, providing jobs and producing social and economic multiplier effect of the adopted technology.