Chinese shipyard lays keel for the hull of Russia's new generation floating nuclear power plant for the first time

2025-02-25 18:06

On August 30, a keel-laying ceremony was held at WHESS (Nantong) Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. for the hull of Russia's first new generation floating nuclear power plant. Atomenergomash, the mechanical manufacturing arm of Rosatom (Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation), participated in the ceremony via video link from Moscow.

This barge is 140 meters long and 30 meters wide. The hull weighs 9549 tons without equipment and 19088 tons with equipment. Delivery to Russia is expected by the end of 2023, after which the reactor, auxiliary equipment, control room, and accommodation areas will be installed.

This is the first of four 106-megawatt floating nuclear power plants that Atomenergomash plans to operate in the Nagleyoingen Cape waters of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Due to the tight project timeline and the heavy workload of Russian domestic shipyards, Atomenergomash decided to have the hulls of the first two units built by overseas shipyards. The construction plan and shipyard for the third and fourth units will be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2022.

To this end, Rosatom launched an open tender last year to Asian shipyards for the construction of two floating nuclear power plant hulls. WHESS (Nantong) Heavy Industry won the bid with a price approximately 30% lower than the highest bid limit, at $226 million. Besides WHESS (Nantong) Heavy Industry, KHAN Precision Industry (South Korea) bid $325 million, and Sichuan Honghua Petroleum Co., Ltd. bid $248 million.

According to the contract, WHESS Heavy Industry needs to deliver the first hull (including the superstructure) by October 2, 2023, and the second hull by February 2, 2024. Atomenergomash has already paid a 15% advance payment to WHESS Heavy Industry at the end of last year.

Meanwhile, Russia is manufacturing nuclear power plant facilities for these four new floating nuclear power plants. The RITM-200 reactor, manufactured entirely by Atomenergomash, offers significantly enhanced capabilities compared to the Academik Lomonosov, the currently operating floating nuclear power plant.

Rosatom's Academik Lomonosov began commercial operation last May. It is the world's first sea-based floating nuclear power plant, built by the Saint Petersburg Shipyard and deployed in Pevek, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in Russia's Far East. The Academik Lomonosov has a total investment of approximately $480 million. It is 144 meters long, 30 meters wide, and 10 meters high, with a displacement of 21,500 tons. It can accommodate about 70 crew members. Its two 35-megawatt KLT-40 reactors primarily provide electricity to factories, cities, and offshore gas and oil drilling platforms in Russia's remote regions.

After delivery and launch in 2019, the Academik Lomonosov completed power generation and connected to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug power grid in December of the same year, replacing local thermal power plants and aging nuclear power plants to provide electricity for approximately 5,000 people in Pevek. The Academik Lomonosov primarily serves oil platforms due to Russia's hydrocarbon extraction projects in the Arctic region.

WHESS Heavy Industry is a large wholly foreign-owned enterprise invested by WHESS Holding Group. It mainly engages in general contracting business such as offshore oil platforms, platform modules, LNG modules, jackets, FPSOs, offshore engineering vessels, and offshore lifting machinery. WHESS Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd. currently has manufacturing bases in Nantong and Zhoushan. WHESS (Nantong) Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., the first shipyard of WHESS Offshore, was established in 2006. Covering approximately 640,000 square meters, it can build and modify various types of vessels and complete the construction of superstructure modules and various steel structure projects. Since its operation in 2006, the base has undertaken multiple offshore topside construction, drilling module, and onshore factory module construction projects. For example, in October 2016, WHESS Offshore successfully completed the delivery of the modular construction project of core components for the PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.) refinery at this base. At the same time, WHESS Offshore has also delivered several industry benchmark projects at this base, including the world's first buoyant tower drilling and production platform and the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) barge.

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