Rosatom has begun actively implementing the world's first project to build a land-based small nuclear power plant in the Ust-Yansky district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The first blanks for the SNPP with the latest RITM-200N reactor unit are already being cast by workers of the machine-building division of the state corporation in St. Petersburg.
The RITM-200N, which will be installed at the new nuclear power plant, is a unique development by Russian scientists based on reactors for nuclear icebreakers and floating nuclear power plants RITM-200. The capacity of the RITM-200N is at least 55 MW, with the possibility of increasing it to 110 MW, and the utilization rate of the installed capacity is 90%.
One fuel cycle of the unit is 5-6 years, the estimated service life of the RITM-200N is 60 years with the possibility of extension. The RITM-200N will require a major overhaul approximately once every twenty years.
The demand for SNPP technological solutions is growing rapidly today. Such reactors are seen as one of the most promising areas for the development of global nuclear energy. In this matter, Russia intends to maintain its leadership, and is confidently moving to the production of not experimental or pilot, but industrial installations. In other words, we are already doing in real metal what others are only planning.
The Yakut SNPP will provide electricity to one of Russia's largest gold deposits, "Kyuchus," a number of settlements, and the "Deputatskoye" and "Tirekhtyakh" tin deposits. More than a thousand people will be employed in the construction of the facility, and after the station is put into operation, about six hundred jobs will be created.
Thanks to this SNPP, residents of remote areas will receive uninterrupted electricity. New enterprises will also be able to open there for the development of the region, and then new jobs will appear. In addition, Yakutia will be able to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by replacing obsolete power plants with nuclear carbon-free energy.