Model of the Project 20870 (back) with a desalination unit (front)
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Builders | Baltic Shipyard |
Operators | Rosatom |
Built | 2007-2018 |
In service | 19 December 2019-present |
Planned | at least 7 |
Building | 3 |
Completed | 1 |
Active | 1 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Nuclear power station barge |
Displacement | 21,500 tonnes |
Length | 144.4 m (474 ft) |
Beam | 30 m (98 ft) |
Height | 10 m (33 ft) |
Draught | 5.6 m (18 ft) |
Propulsion | none |
Crew | 69 |
Notes | 2 modified KLT-40S nuclear reactors (icebreaker type) producing 70 MW electric or 300 MW heat power |
Floating nuclear power stations (Russian: плавучая атомная теплоэлектростанция малой мощности, ПАТЭС ММ, lit. 'floating combined heat and power (CHP) low-power nuclear power plant') are vessels designed by Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation. They are self-contained, low-capacity, floating nuclear power plants. Rosatom plans to mass-produce the stations at shipbuilding facilities and then tow them to ports near locations that require electricity.
The work on such a concept dates back to the MH-1A in the United States, which was built in the 1960s into the hull of a World War II Liberty Ship,[1] which was followed on much later in 2022 when the United States Department of Energy funded a three-year research study of offshore floating nuclear power generation.[2] The Rosatom project is the first floating nuclear power plant intended for mass production. The initial plan was to manufacture at least seven of the vessels by 2015.[3] On 14 September 2019, Russia’s first-floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, arrived to its permanent location in the Chukotka region.[4] It started operation on 19 December 2019.[5]