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Assembling of floating nuclear power plant started

Photo: sevmash.ru

Baltiysky Zavod in St.Petersburg yesterday started assembling of Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant.

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In a ceremony to mark the start-up, Energoatom’s General Director Sergey Obozov said that this is the first of eight floating nuclear power plant s (NPP) to be build, web site Minatom.ru writes.

The first to NPPs are to be placed in Eastern Russia - in Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka, and Pevek, Chukotka.

According to Head of Energoatom’s Directorate for Construction of Floating NPPs Sergey Zavyalov, construction of the second plant might start already in autumn 2010. - We already have an agreement with the authorities of Chukotka to station the plant in Pevek, Zavyalov said.

Zavyalov claims that a floating nuclear power plant can operate for 40 years and need refueling only once in 10 years. The contract for the construction of the first floating NPP has a price tag of nearly 9.9 billion RUB. The first plant is supposed to be ready by the second quarter of 2012.

As BarentsObserver reported, The construction of Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant started at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk in April 2007, but in August 2008 Rosatom transferred the assignment to the Baltiysky Zavod in Sankt Petersburg.