The world's first and only floating nuclear power plant (FNPP), Akademik Lomonosov, obtained a 10-year operating license to run until 2029, Rosenergoatom, the subsidiary of Russia's state atomic corporation Rosatom announced late Thursday.
The Russian Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service, Rostekhnadzor, awarded the operating license for the 144-meter length and 30-meter wide powership.
The Akademik Lomonosov has a displacement ability of 21,000 tonnes and is equipped with two reactors capable of producing up to 70 megawatts of electric power. The FNPP is designed to operate for about forty years with the possibility of being extended to fifty years.
Rosenergoatom's General Director Andrey Petrov said that obtaining the license is the culmination of many years of hard work.
"This gives us an opportunity to start transporting the powership to the Pevek port [on the shore of the East Siberian Sea in Chaunskaya Bay] in late August, where it will then undergo trials and operational launch as a part of the floating nuclear heat and power plant at the end of 2019," Petrov said.
Transfer of the FNPP is expected from the manufacturer Baltic Shipyard to the customer Rosenergoatom by the end of June.
Construction of the onshore and hydraulic facilities, the infrastructure designed to transmit the electric power into the Chukotenergo power networks, along with heat for the city's district heating system are to be completed by the year end.
The plant is set to release the first kilowatts-hours of electricity in December, replacing the outgoing capacities of the Bilibino nuclear power plant and the Chaunskaya combined heat and power plant.
"As the floating plant is going to be located in Pevek, it will spur the social and economic development of the Chaun municipal district specifically and Chukotka in general, while it will become one of the key infrastructure elements within the Northern Sea Route development program," the company statement read.
Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr