The new RITM-200S reactors are more efficient and safer than the existing ones: the fuel in them needs to be replaced half as often – every five years
Rosatom State Corporation has developed nuclear fuel for the RITM-200S reactor facility, designed for the project of modernized floating power units (MPEP). Such installations are being created to supply power to the Baimsky Mining and Processing Plant in Chukotka. The project includes two RITM-200S reactors with a nominal thermal power of 198 MW each. The press service of JSC TVEL (a Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer, part of the fuel division of Rosatom) said that compared to the existing floating nuclear thermal power plant (FNPP) Akademik Lomonosov, the new generation floating power units will have a higher economic efficiency. efficiency and improved safety.
The core for the RITM-200S reactor plant has four times more energy than the core for the KLT-40S reactor plant of the operating FNPP, as well as an extended nuclear fuel service life (until it is refueled and replaced with fresh fuel). The interval between refueling for RITM-200S is about five years, which is about two times higher than for the Akademik Lomonosov FNPP. The Baimsky Mining and Processing Plant in the Bilibinsky District of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug will be built on the basis of the Peschanka porphyry copper deposit. Its capacity will be 70 million tons of ore per year (1.4 million tons of copper concentrate). For its energy supply, modernized floating power units with RITM-200S reactor units will be used. In total, it is planned to build four power units: three main and one standby,
The family of modern nuclear reactors of the RITM type is also used in Russian nuclear icebreakers: the lead universal nuclear icebreaker of project 22220 Arktika with two RITM-200 reactors and the first serial icebreaker of this project Sibir are already operating on the Northern Sea Route. On December 2, 2022, the nuclear icebreaker Ural set off on its first working voyage; the Yakutia icebreaker was launched at the end of November, and the fifth model of the series, Chukotka, is currently under construction. In addition, Rosatom is implementing a pilot project for the construction of a low-power ground-based nuclear power plant with a RITM-200N reactor plant to supply power to remote areas of Yakutia.
