Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Nuclear Country Notes

Russian Federation

There were 31 nuclear units installed at ten different sites at the end of 2005, with an aggregate net generating capacity of 21 743 MWe. The reactor types represented consisted of eleven 925 MWe LWGRs, nine 950 MWe WWERs, four 411 MWe WWERs, four 11 MWe LWGRs, two 385 MWe WWERs and one 560 MWe FBR. In all, NPPs provided almost 16% of the Russian Federation's electricity output in 2005.

Four reactor units, with an aggregate capacity of 3 775 MWe, were under construction at the end of 2005, comprising three 950 MWe WWERs and one 925 MWe LWGR (Kursk-5). Of the WWERs, Volgodonsk-2 (also known as Rostov-2) is due for completion in 2009, whilst Balakovo-5 and Kalinin-4 are expected to come online in 2010-2011.

In October 2006, it was reported that the Russian Government had formally adopted a two-stage development programme for nuclear energy, which includes plans for commissioning a new series of power reactors, to be implemented in two stages (2007-2010 and 2011-2015). The programme envisages that from 2009 Russia will add some 2 000 MWe to its nuclear generating capacity each year, so that by 2015 ten new reactors should be in operation and a further ten under construction.

According to the head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), as reported in November 2006, the Federation plans to install 42 new nuclear reactors by 2030. It was reported in February 2007 that construction would commence (later in 2007) of Russia's first two advanced pressurised water reactors (AES-2006) of 1 200 MWe each, with completion envisaged for end-2012.

Russia is building the world's first floating nuclear power plant at Severodvinsk on the White Sea, with completion scheduled for 2010. The pilot BNPP (buoyant nuclear power plant) will be assembled in a shipyard and then towed to the generating site. The vessel will be 140 m long and 30 m broad, with a displacement of 21 000 tonnes. It will accommodate two 35 MWe reactors of a type similar to those on a nuclear icebreaker. The plant is designed to have a lifetime of 40-50 years. There are plans for two other BNPPs, to be sited at Vilyuchinsk and Pevek Bay, both in the far east of the Federation.