Floating NPPs, a Solution for Electricity Demand in Hot Countries?

Could floating nuclear power plants be future reliable solutions in facing the increasing electricity demand, above all in the hottest countries?

Some experts support the idea that floating NPPs could work in many coastal areas, e.g. of Africa, supplying electricity to port cities and surrounding villages.

The answer suggested by the Russian State Nuclear Corporation Rosatom is also positive.

After the development and the successful start of operations of the Akademik Lomonosov, the world’s only floating nuclear power station, further studies and projects are going to be discussed by the Russian company and its subsidiaries.

As announced by the “Iceberg” Central Design Bureau, Akademik Lomonosov will be flanked by an OPEB (Optimized Floating Power Unit), the preliminary design of which was completed at the Iceberg Centre.

“Compared to Akademik Lomonosov, OPEB is structurally simpler, the composition of auxiliary equipment and ship devices has been optimized, and the number of personnel has been reduced. The lifetime and turnaround time of the main equipment will be significantly increased. At the same time, the OPEB is more powerful, so its economic efficiency will also be higher“, Iceberg chief designer Gleb Makeev said.

“The unit is designed for operation in tropical and subtropical climates, with seawater temperatures up to 40 ° C and outside air temperatures up to 47 ° C”, Makeev added.

The full interview (in Russian) is available on Strana Rosatom.

ENS has already hosted an interesting webinar on possible development and applications of floating NPPs.

The video is available on ENS YouTube Channel: “Rosatom SMR solutions: floating nuclear power plants and beyond“