ANADYR, March 27. /TASS/. A floating nuclear thermal power plant in Chukotka will begin working in the pilot mode in November, 2019, the region’s First Deputy Governor Mikhail Sobolev told TASS on Wednesday.
"It will arrive in November, and in autumn it will begin [to work] in the pilot mode, and, most probable, the full exploitation will begin in April, 2020," he said. "In Pevek, at times the air temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees, and we fear leaving the citizens without heating, thus, most likely, it will begin working in spring."
Chukotka will be a test platform to try the new technology, he continued.
"This plant is the first in the world, the idea appeared back in 1992," he said. "In the Soviet times, similar ideas were implemented, though at that time the power plants used diesel, and Rosatom has decided to implement this idea with use of nuclear energy."
The Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant was built by the Baltic Shipyard. The energy units will undergo tests to end of March, 2019, and before July, 2019, the plant will be given to the client - Rosatom. The plant’s capacity is 70 MW, it will produce 50 GCal/H, which will be sufficient for a city, where more than 200,000 live.
The forum "Idea - to Business, Business - to Result" is underway in Anadyr and Egvekinot on March 26-28. The agenda offers sessions on tourism, agriculture, digital economy, and preferences for businesses. The forum features federal and regional officials, representatives of banks, leading Russian and foreign companies, working in tourism, agriculture, transport, and fish processing.