Rosatom: the second RITM-200C reactor has been completed for a mining giant in Chukotka.

The Russian state corporation Rosatom announced that at the ZiO-Podolsk plant the second RITM-200C reactor, intended for the new generation of floating nuclear power plants (FPU-106), was successfully produced. As World Nuclear News reports, this completes the operating set of reactors for the first of four planned floating units that will supply power to a large mining-industrial complex for copper mining in Chukotka, in the far north of Russia

The first reactor for this unit was produced in May and is currently located in a shipyard where it awaits installation. The FPU-106 unit will have two RITM-200C reactors, each with a capacity of 58 (total 116) megawatts (MWe).

Anton Lebedev, the general director of the ZiO-Podolsk plant, noted that 2026 is a record year for their production:

"For the first time in history we have produced a complete set of RITM units for a floating nuclear power plant that will power an industrial cluster in the Russian North. This is an important step in the global development of small modular reactors (SMR). In less than a year we have already produced four reactors from the RITM family, while another five are in the process of fabrication."

Mining complex in the North and a fleet of four floating units

The development project for the Baimskaya copper deposit requires about 300 megawatts of stable power. To cover these needs, the construction of three floating power plants with a capacity of 100+ MWe each is planned, while the fourth unit will serve as reserve capacity during regular maintenance and the replacement of nuclear fuel at the other plants.

The RITM-200C reactor represents a customized version of the RITM-200 reactor already used on the new generation of Russian nuclear icebreakers (Arktika, Ural, Sibir, Yakutia). To date, a total of 16 units of this type have been produced, eight of which are in active operation at sea, while another 12 are at various stages of production.

Rosatom notes that upon completion, the project in Chukotka will become the world's first green industrial energy project based on floating nuclear technology. Russia currently operates the world's only floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov (commissioned for commercial operation in 2020 in the town of Pevek), which provides heat and electricity for about 5,000 residents and local infrastructure using two KLT-40S reactors.

Comment

And we note a radical difference in the field of small modular reactors (SMR) in the concrete engineering capacity between Russia and the West — the Russian project in Chukotka demonstrates a critical advantage: serial factory production and deployment in real industrial conditions; while at the same time in the West, designs of small modular reactors that are planned to be exploited so far rarely even have prototypes.

In short, if there is any 'race', Russia is leading by a huge margin.

S.A.