Development Projects of Russia: Industry, Energy and Infastructure

The reactor in Belarus is basically finished and only needs to complete testing and be connected to the grid.

That list is missing some international Russian nuclear projects which are not under construction yet but are already signed. For example the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in Egypt. And they started pouring concrete on the base of the fourth nuclear power plant in Turkey in late July. So it is four under construction there not three.

As for the prospects of further nuclear construction in Russia. There is a huge amount of RMBK-1000, i.e. Chernobyl type, reactors in Russia currently in operation which are near the end of their life and need to be replaced. And others of same type which were recently closed and still have had no replacement. Just that is nine reactors. At Kursk (4), Smolensk (3), and Leningrad (2). They are building two VVER-TOI at Kursk right now but they need seven more. Then you have the VVER-400 reactors at Kola (4) which also need to be replaced. These might be replaced with two new small VVER-600 model or a single VVER-TOI. There are reactors at Novovoronezh (2) which will need replacement near the end of this decade. There are also proposals to build new VVER-TOI reactors in other places. For example in Kaliningrad, Crimea, Tatarstan, and somewhere close to the Moscow region. There is a huge program to build fast reactors of BN-1200 type around the Urals region which is presently delayed and will be necessary to close the fuel cycle. You also have a bunch of small modular reactors of RITM-200 type being built for mining projects in Siberia.

I think Russia needs to reduce to focus on replacing their RMBK-1000 reactors. They should be building at least four reactors VVER-TOI in Russia simultaneously and instead they only build two. And building these reactors abroad requires massive investments, which with the sanctions, will drain cash. Russia is financing these projects with loans and they will use currency which they will lack elsewhere. These projects also are typically collaborations with foreign (read Western) nuclear companies. So I wonder how long this practice will continue. If anything Russia needs to replace any of these foreign components in the exports, like steam turbines and electronics, with Russian ones to prevent being hit with sanctions. I think Rosatom is being cavalier with regards to sanctions. VVER-TOI already uses Russian steam turbines however.

One big project will be upgrading the gas fired power plants I think. Russia needs to expand production of their own gas turbines and continue upgrading facilities. And it might be necessary to remove Western gas turbine crap which was installed and no longer has parts and support thanks to sanctions. But I hope not.

For now, the construction of three or four reactors is not enough to replace the old RBMK 1000. Of course, now even the power in nuclear reactors, such as France or the USA, is building less and the NPP is getting old. Only Russia is the leader in general in the construction of nuclear reactors in the world. They have great potential. They must also use in own country

They have replaced two of the RMBKs in Leningrad. But there is a long way to go for sure.

Yes Russia is currently building the most reactors in the world and has an incredibly developed nuclear industry. Only China can compete with them. They should also invest in their power plants. China is currently building more than 20 reactors at home. It is known that foreign contracts are money, but Russia should also focus on building reactors in its own country.
Lancelot and you know anything about the giant tidal power plant project in the far east of Russia?

Arrow wrote:Lancelot and you know anything about the giant tidal power plant project in the far east of Russia?

I had not heard of that before. But reading this.

https://www.renewable.news/innovation-technology/russia-wants-to-build-the-worlds-most-powerful-tidal-power-plant-in-kamchatka/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penzhin_Tidal_Power_Plant_Project

If the point is to use it to generate electricity to make hydrogen I think it won't happen anytime soon. You can extract hydrogen from natural gas a lot cheaper, and without Europe buying Russian gas, it is not like there will be a lack of it. You could transmit the electricity to sell it to China for example. But it is so far away from China I doubt this would be viable with current technology.

And so far to the rest of Russia that it is also unprofitable. High transmission losses.

nce Rosatom has completed its foreign projects, it should begin the massive construction of the NPP in Russia. In addition, Russia has the technologies of fast breeder reactors BN-800, BN 1200, etc. They also have small RITM-200 reactors and a new RITM 400 As you wrote, they can use these ractors in remote corners of Siberia or that, not to mention miniature reactors that can also be used for many civilian projects.

China is investing its nuclear technology potential in its country's infrastructure. This is a very good approach

Arrow wrote:China is investing its nuclear technology potential in its country's infrastructure. This is a very good approach

China has also exported their own nuclear reactor designs to Pakistan. And they were trying to sell them to Argentina but I think it did not happen yet.

lancelot wrote:
I had not heard of that before.

It is very old project dating back into 50s.
This TPP was rated at about 100 000 MW, and at that stage, and was simply not needed there.
Sending this amount of energy thousands of km away was considered an economic absurdity.
That killed the thing.
As they are seriously going to reorient to the east, and cheap energy can produce hydrogen out there - the concept is back.

China has also exported their own nuclear reactor designs to Pakistan. And they were trying to sell them to Argentina but I think it did not happen yet. wrote:

They will definitely be exporting their nuclear technologies. Currently, they mainly invest in their own country. The construction of more than 20 reactors is impressive.
Maybe I am wrong, but I think that Russia should also invest much more in its own NPP because they require huge investments. For now, Rosatom is focusing mainly on the construction of NPP in other countries.

According to the current general scheme for the placement of electric power facilities until 2035, approved by the government in 2017, it is planned to introduce the following new nuclear power units:

+ 2 VVER TOI at Leningrad NPP-2 by 2030

+ 1 VVER-600 at the Kola NPP by 2035

+ 4 VVER TOI at Kursk NPP-2. Blocks 1 and 2 by 2025, Block 3 by 2030, Block 4 by 2035.

+ 2 VVER TOI at Smolensk NPP-2 by 2030

+ BN-1200 at Beloyarsk NPP by 2035

+ 1 VVER TOI on the Central (Kostroma) NPP (Bui) by 2035

+ 2 VVER TOI at Nizhny Novgorod NPP (Monakovo settlement) by 2035

Total: 11 VVER TOI, one VVER-600 and one BN-1200, with a total capacity of about 15.6 GW. As you can see, the main increase in capacity is associated with the construction of VVER TOI. This is an improved VVER model of the NPP-2006 project, or simply put, an improved VVER-1200 model. I'll tell you a little more about it at the end.

It is worth adding that the commissioning of 4 units with VVER-1200 at the Novovoronezh NPP and Leningrad NPP-2 laid down in this general scheme took place within the time specified in the scheme. As well as the commissioning of a floating nuclear power plant in Chukotka. So while the tasks prescribed in the general scheme are being fulfilled.

But life makes its own adjustments, and plans have already been outlined in excess of those stated in the general scheme. In particular, last year it was already announced that not one, but two units with VVER-600 are planned to be built at the Kola NPP. These are reactors with spectral regulation, and I wrote in detail about them and the Kola station itself in a separate large article.

In addition, contracts have already been signed for the construction of a series of small floating nuclear power plants, which were not in the scheme – these are 4 units of modernized NPP with RITM-200 reactors in Chukotka with launch dates from 2027 to 2031, and one small ground-based NPP with a RITM-200N unit in Yakutia, which should be built by 2030. BREST-OD-300 should start working around 2027.
https://habr.com/ru/post/649235/

"From 2040 to 2045, the last VVER-440s will be shut down - the third and fourth units of the Kola NPP, as well as three 60-year-old VVER-1000s at the Novovoronezh (No. 5), Balakovo (No. 1) and Kalinin (No. 1)"

Kalinin-1 reactor can probably be life extended with thermal annealing if they want to. Just look at it. Planned shutdown of 2025 while Kalinin-2 reactor of same type has planned shutdown of 2038. One was put into operation in 1985, and the other in 1987. So a termination date of 2025 would mean 40 years lifetime. But in a lot of other cases in Russia and in the West similar reactors have been life extended to up to 60 years. Similar class reactor Balakovo-4 has a planned lifetime of 60 years. So if they life extend it, this will not need replacement. And thermal annealing can be done more than once in theory.

Kola NPP. In principle they could life extend Kola-3 and Kola-4 with thermal annealing to 60 years like they did with units 1 and 2. This would life extend those two reactors to 2042 and 2044. In that case you would only need to replace Kola-1 and Kola-2 once their 60 year lifetime comes up 2033 and 2034. The thing is the only other reactor in Russia of similar type is Novovoronezh-4 and that will reach 60 years lifetime in 2032. So will you continue life extending nuclear reactors of different type like VVER-400 or just replace them outright? And Kola NPP is close to the border with Finland. In case of conflict it might be damaged. So it makes little sense to continue to life extend it when it does not have the latest third generation reactor security features.

"But life makes its own adjustments, and plans have already been outlined in excess of those stated in the general scheme. In particular, last year it was already announced that the Kola NPP plans to build not one, but two units with VVER-600. These are reactors with spectral regulation, and I wrote in detail about them and the Kola station itself in a separate large article."

Like I said two VVER-600 reactors at Kola. Or one VVER-TOI which has twice the power. It does not take a lot, you just need to look at the current fleet that needs replacement. The problem with adding a single VVER-TOI reactor is that you would need some sort of backup elsewhere in the grid whenever the reactor needs to refueled. Refueling takes months to do.

"If, taking into account the growth of the economy and nuclear generation, there will be a need for large-scale construction at new sites, then these may be sites that have already appeared in earlier versions of general schemes in recent years. For example, in the scheme for commissioning power facilities from 2016 . They mentioned Tatarskaya NPP (settlement Kamskiye Polyany) with VVER-TOI and Yuzhnouralskaya NPP (Ozersk) with another BN-1200."

Like I said in the long term they might build nuclear reactors in Tatarstan. Which is a region of Russia with high energy usage, highly industrialized with companies like KamAZ and the Kazan Helicopter Plant, and that currently has no reactors. In Soviet times they started building VVER reactors there but construction was cancelled with the fall of the Soviet Union. The economic rationale to build them is still there. And Ozersk is yet another place in the Urals region. I have heard of them possibly building BN-1200 reactors at two sites in the Urals and that is one of them. But BN-1200 reactor design is not finished and they have not built a prototype yet. It was supposed to be a simple scale up of BN-800 but they had issues with operation of that initially, design changes were demanded, so it will not be a simple scale up.

Russia is working on the VVER-S reactor.

The VVER-S is being developed by Rosatom’s OKB Gidropress. The fundamental difference between the VVER-S and conventional VVERs lies in spectral regulation — the replacement of liquid boron regulation and reactor control by changing the water-uranium ratio in the core. This is done through the introduction of displacers into and out of the core during the fuel campaign. In VVER-S, instead of absorption in boric acid, excess neutrons are absorbed on uranium-238. This produces plutonium - a new fissile fuel. Gidropress says the use of a spectral regulation system has a number of advantages. It saves natural uranium - at the same power, a spectrally controlled reactor will consume 30% less uranium in an open fuel cycle. However, the VVER-S can operate in both an open and closed fuel cycle. Spectral control makes it possible to load into a light water reactor a core consisting entirely of mixed oxide (mox) fuel. Currently, light water reactors can be loaded with a core containing no more than 50% mox. Thus the VVER-S can consume regenerated fuel within the framework of a closed nuclear fuel cycle. In addition, the required level of safety for generation 3+ nulcear power plants is ensured without the need for a boron regulation system. The design service life of the main equipment is at least 60 years. wrote:

The main parameters in the reactor are approximately the same as in the VVER-TOI project, and the materials for the VVER-S will be the same. The only change that might be needed is for the internals. For these, new steel is being developed at the Prometheus Central Research Institute of Structural Materials. The service life of internals made of new steel will be longer. wrote:

What do you think about it? The reactor can produce plutonium 239 from Uranium 238. So it is in competition with fast breeder reactors. It can also run on MOX fuel.
What do you think about this project? Has a future? But are the BN-800 and BN 1200 reactors?

This project is further ahead than I thought.

Rosatom to start building second power unit of Egyptian NPP on November 19
Rosatom started construction of the El Dabaa NPP in Egypt on July 20

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, November 15. /TASS/. Rosatom will initiate construction of the second power unit of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant (NPP) in Egypt on November 19, Senior Vice President of ASE, the engineering division of the Russian state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom, told TASS at the COP27.

"We will initiate concrete pouring of the second power unit on November 19. I am pleased to note that we will start it ahead of time. We planned to make such pouring at the second unit in January under the schedule. This is good groundwork for us to keep the pace," Alexander Korchagin said.

Rosatom started construction of the El Dabaa NPP in Egypt on July 20. This is the first nuclear power plant in Egypt and the first large-scale project of Rosatom in Africa.

https://tass.com/economy/1537005

You can already see the first unit in Google Maps.

So Russia is currently building about 18 reactors in other countries and three in Russia.
In Russia, they are currently building.
2 VVER TOI Kursk plant
1 breest 300.

A total of about 21 reactors. Most in the world. An impressive number

Arrow wrote:Russia is working on the VVER-S reactor.
What do you think about it? The reactor can produce plutonium 239 from Uranium 238. So it is in competition with fast breeder reactors. It can also run on MOX fuel.
What do you think about this project? Has a future? But are the BN-800 and BN 1200 reactors?

The supercritical water reactor? It requires new materials, like new steel alloys and fuel elements, to be developed so it might take a while.

I think it is a great concept. The reactor core is supposed to run at much higher temperatures which means its thermodynamic efficiency is higher.

The BN-800/1200 have the advantage that the technology is more well established. Russia can already manufacture the fuel elements for example. The supercritical water reactor is more of a long term development project.

The BN-800/1200 have the advantage that the technology is more well established. Russia can already manufacture the fuel elements for example. The supercritical water reactor is more of a long term development project. wrote:

In addition, another project of Brest-300 breeder reactor, where the coolant is a liquid lead alloy.

Arrow wrote:In addition, another project of Brest-300 breeder reactor, where the coolant is a liquid lead alloy.

The BREST-300 has way less obstacles to development since Russia has prior experience both with sodium cooled fast reactors like BN-800 and lead fast reactors like the ones used in the Alfa-class submarines.

KVS but Russia continues to develop VVER reactors. Recently, VVER TOI. They will replace the older RBMK. Of course they are the only ones? operating NPP on the BN-800 reactor. They are also developing BN 1200 and BREST. In the future, there will be a mix of pressurized water and fast breeder reactors cooled with sodium and lead in Russia. Although it is a distant future yet. Russia is probably not so focused on increasing the share of nuclear energy in its system. They have a lot of cheap gas?

The pressurized water reactors are a known technology and way more reliable. That is basically why.

Fast reactors might get there at one point, but they still are not there. Still, the fact fast reactors can more fully burn up the fuel means they will be essential in case we want to use nuclear power for energy generation in the long term. Having fast reactors means the fuel you would use for a hundred years will instead last you for a couple thousand years. As time passes more high yield uranium mines get depleted and it gets harder and harder to extract.

Of course, the fast reactors can produce huge amounts of nuclear fuel from U-238 and Toru-232. This technology will provide energy for tens of thousands of years.
In addition, fast reactors can "use" a part of high-level radioactive waste by converting it into low-level waste. They significantly solve the problem of radioactive waste.

The State Duma summed up the results of the implementation of national projects in 2022

The national projects have shown their flexibility and relevance in the face of the challenges facing Russia. Due to which the necessary support was provided to citizens, sectors of the economy, as well as new regions of Russia. State Duma deputy Oleg Matveychev told VZGLYAD newspaper about this, commenting on the results of the implementation of national projects in 2022.

“We can say with confidence that all existing national projects have proven their relevance. In addition, last year it became obvious that they are able to adapt to emerging challenges and be extremely flexible,” said Oleg Matveychev, a political scientist and State Duma deputy.

"In my opinion, the projects related to construction and infrastructure have become the most significant in the new realities. This area gives economic growth even against the backdrop of sanctions. The construction sector is of particular interest for new regions of Russia," the parliamentarian noted.

“In addition, agriculture remains an important area in our country. Therefore, the support that is provided to the listed industries helps the economy of our country to effectively withstand the pressure of sanctions, increasing labor productivity,” the source said.

According to the deputy, it is extremely important that the implementation of national projects immediately began in new territories - in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, as well as in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics. So, for example, within the framework of the national project "Health", the President of Russia instructed to conduct a mass medical examination of children.

Also, within the framework of national projects, attention is paid to youth policy. "Support measures and the legislative framework in the field of youth policy are being regularly improved, especially with regard to supporting youth employment, entrepreneurship, science and much more," Matveychev said.

“Young people, of course, will always voice their problems, thereby creating a field for improving this area. But this is good. The state should pay more attention to ensuring that young people integrate into the life of the country and do not seek to emigrate,” the political scientist believes.

Summing up the assessment of the implementation of national projects in general, the deputy emphasized their maximum efficiency. “This assessment is evidenced by the data of sociological studies and the decisions of the authorities to extend the projects further. If they were not in demand among the inhabitants of the country or could not cope with the tasks of the state, then their implementation would have already ceased,” he notes.

"Obviously, national projects allow the state to focus its efforts on specific problems and quickly adjust to emerging challenges," the parliamentarian concluded.

Recall that in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the State Council on strategic planning and national projects. The head of state called the rapid development of infrastructure in Russia a key condition for increasing business and investment activity and creating jobs.

The Russian leader in his speech also pointed out the need to speed up the preparation and adjustment of plans for the development of key sectors of the domestic economy, the military-industrial complex and the parameters of the state defense order. In addition, Putin focused on the inadmissibility of a formal approach to these issues.

The President called on relevant departments to accelerate work on creating a digital health profile of a citizen, as well as work on creating 25 new world-class university campuses.

In addition, the government was instructed to increase the resource of infrastructure budget loans, allocate an additional 250 billion for the development of transport, communal and social infrastructure, and programs for the modernization of housing and communal services.

In 2022, as part of the implementation of national projects, a large number of socially significant facilities were built, reconstructed and opened. Thus, the development of master plans for 25 cities of the Far East has started and the implementation of the large-scale program "1000 Yards" has begun. The educational program "Priority 2030. Far East.

A major cardiological center has been opened in Yakutia under the Single Subsidy program, and a Center for Nuclear Medicine has been opened in Buryatia. Russia's largest world-class radiotherapy center has started operating in the Novosibirsk Region. A large-scale project for the construction of 22 kindergartens has been completed in Yamal. And in the Trans-Baikal Territory, the world's first specialized full-cycle land grain terminal was put into operation.

Traffic was opened on the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe cross-border road bridge and on the Nizhneleninskoye-Tongjiang cross-border railway bridge. Construction of the second bridge across the Ob River began in Ugra. In the Middle Urals, through traffic was launched along the Yekaterinburg Ring Road (EKAD), and a reconstructed section of the M-5 highway was opened in the Chelyabinsk Region.

As part of the implementation of national projects, a program for the development of the Northern Sea Route was approved and the first subsidized coastal voyages along the NSR of the nuclear container ship Sevmorput were launched. A new river port is being built in the Tver region, which will become part of a major transport hub in Central Russia.

Europe's largest basketball training center for youth was opened in the Kuban, and the country's largest Center for Youth Innovative Creativity was opened in Karachay-Cherkessia.

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