Russian regional and federal ministries are “actively working” to change the existing plans for Russia’s first land-based small modular reactor (SMR) project in Yakutia. They want to expand the project into a two-reactor scheme, after assessing likely future energy demands.
    Work has already begun on the project. In February, it was announced that construction of worker camps and a new road to the site was taking place. Rosenergoatom was officially designated by Rosatom as the operating organization by parent company.
     The SMR being constructed is a water-cooled RITM-200N fifty-five megawatt reactor that has been adapted from the RITM-200 series which is used to power Russia’s latest fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. It will be constructed near Ust-Kuyga in Yakutia (also known as Sakha) in Russia’s Arctic north. The goal is to have the new SMR commissioned in 2028. Russian nuclear regulator Rostekhnadzor granted the SMR a construction license in April 2023. The expected service life for the new reactor is 60 years with a five-year refueling schedule.
     Last Thursday, in conjunction with the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, an agreement on ensuring the appropriate electric power infrastructure as part of the SMR project was signed by Rosatom’s Deputy Director General Kirill Komarov and Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Sakha Kirill Bychkov.
    The regional government and federal agencies will collaborate to create the distribution networks, power transmission lines and substations required for the SMR to supply the existing power needs as well as the proposed mining expansion in the region.
     General Komarov said, “The Yakut SMR NPP will provide stable and low-carbon generation for large industrial consumers, thus becoming the regional power center. Clearly, once the SMR is commissioned, it is necessary to ensure its capacity loading will become possible following the establishing of new industrial enterprises as well as social and transportation infrastructure. This, in turn, will lead to the growth of the regional population. Taking into account the development of the current and prospective deposits of Yakut Ust-Yansk and Verkhoyansk Districts, the consumption of the mining factories will exceed ninety megawatts of electric capacity.”
     Chairman Bychkov said, “We will put every effort to support the development of the Arctic territories of Yakutia that have huge potential for creating a mining cluster. As for the electric power consumption by the population and equivalent consumer categories, it is planned to increase power supply up to five megawatts in Ust-Kuyga and seven megawatts in Deputatsky … the estimations we have made with Rosatom show that fifty five megawatts of capacity provided by one RITM-200N reactor unit will not be sufficient for the respected industrial cluster, that’s why we are working with federal ministries and agencies on the topic of transitioning to a two-unit design.”
     Rosatom claims that the SMR plant “will become the heart of one of the largest mineral resource centers in Russia” with the development of the Kyuchus, Deputatsky, and Tirekhtyakh deposits and broader infrastructure works to “create a developed area that is comfortable for work and life”.