Alexei Likhachev is the Rosatom Director General. He said that the first two new six-hundred-megawatt reactors planned for the second phase of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant will be built between 2027 to 2037.
During a visit to the Kola nuclear power plant in the Murmansk region of Russia, Likhachev said that Kola II would be the first to feature the new medium-powered units designed for deployment in isolated areas in Russia and other countries. He went on to say that a further two reactors with a service life of 80 years were planned for the site in the future.
Likhachev said, “Kola NPP-2 will be the first station with modern 600 MW medium-capacity units. The implementation of the project will allow for the confident development of the region’s economy and will open up opportunities for launching new industrial projects on its territory. The medium-capacity project is innovative and meets modern energy system requirements, including maneuverability requirements, which is especially important for regions with grid limitations, including the Kola Peninsula”.
In March of this year, Rosatom said that the new Kola II reactors would be VVER-S, and have the ability to participate in a closed nuclear fuel cycle with the use of uranium-plutonium fuel.
The VVER-S is a six-hundred-megawatt water-cooled reactor under development. The basic difference for VVER-S compared with other VVER reactors is in spectral regulation “of the change in the reactivity margin of the core during fuel burnout due to a change in the water-uranium ratio and the complete rejection of liquid boron regulation during reactor operation at power. In the VVER-S, excess neutrons, instead of being absorbed in boric acid, are absorbed by uranium-238”. This produces plutonium, a new fissile fuel.
In Russia, MOX (mixed oxide) nuclear fuel is currently produced for fast neutron reactors, notably the BN-800 fast reactor at Beloyarsk. MOX fuel is manufactured from plutonium recycled from used reactor fuel, mixed with depleted uranium. Uranium-plutonium REMIX fuel has been developed for use in VVER reactors. Rosatom says that, if the proposed VVER-S reactors can use a full load of MOX fuel, it will cut its use of natural uranium by fifty percent. With high uranium prices, over its lifetime, this could save about the same amount as the capital cost of a reactor.
The Kola nuclear power plant was the first plant to be built in the harsh climatic conditions of the Arctic. It provides a reliable energy supply to the northern part of the Republic of Karelia. This is where most of the region’s major industrial enterprises are located. It also provides energy to more than half of the consumers in the Kola Peninsula.
Rosatom said that a project planned to expand the outdoor switchgear consisting of a third 330kV line and substations will increase electricity consumption in the north of the peninsula. This is required because of the construction of a liquefied gas plant. This construction is due to be completed by the end of 2029.
There have been various plans for new capacity at Kola, with World Nuclear Association saying that in 2012 the replacement plant, about six miles from the existing site, was due to feature two VVER-TOI reactors. However, in June 2021 the plant management announced that the plan was for construction to begin in 2028 for two VVER-S six hundred megawatt reactors, with the first to be online in 2034. The ‘S’ in the name signifies spectral shift control, with heavy water in the primary coolant. Russia’s future energy development plan released in 2024 included three proposed VVER-S/600 units at the Kola II site between 2035 and 2040,
The Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation says that the medium-power reactors will mean there is a full range of options for reactors, from small modular reactors to large-scale VVER-1200 units.