CONSULTING

to the customer at the end of 2012. 914 The latest official start-up date is said to be
6 September 2016, 915 or the autumn of 2016 according to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, 916
although other reports suggest the vessels will be launched only in 2019. 917 Critics of the project
point out that the risk of accidents on a floating nuclear plant is greatly increased because they
are even more susceptible to the elements, subject to threats of piracy, and if deployed widely
would increase the risks of nuclear material proliferation. 918
Construction started at the Baltic-1 unit, a 1109 MW VVER-491 reactor, in February 2012.
However, construction was suspended in June 2013 for a variety of reasons, including recognition
of the limited market for the electricity. Accordingly, WNISR pulled the project off the construction
listing. Despite no indication that construction has restarted, the project remains “under
construction” in IAEA statistics. However, given the ongoing problems in electricity markets with
low market prices and sluggish demand, there is little incentive for construction to restart. The
Lithuanian Energy Minister, called for a boycott of power from the power plant should it be
completed.
Two VVER-1200 MW units are being built at the Leningrad nuclear power plant near
St. Petersburg, where construction started in 2008 and 2010. At the time of ordering, the reactors
were expected to start up in 2013 and 2016 respectively. However, repeated delays have
occurred, with reports of the dropping from height of the control rod cluster assembly, cracking
the walls and floor of the cooling pond, with a resultant possible six-month delay, 919 with
completion of unit 1 now expected in 2018. 920
Two VVER-1200 reactors are also under construction at Novovoronezh; one expected to be
completed in 2016, and the second, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), in 2019. 921
Another reactor is being constructed at the Rostov nuclear power plant, expected to be completed
in 2017.
In June 2016 the Russian regulator Rostechnadzor granted a construction license for Unit 1 of
Kursk II which was followed by and a construction permit from state nuclear corporation
Rosatom. Russian press suggest that soil removal has now begun on the site. 922 This could be a
particularly important project, as it would be the first of the latest Russian design, the VVER-TOI,
which is said to be a 1.2 GW, Generation III+ design. The proposed start-up date of the first of two
914 NEI, “KLT-40S nuclear barge project still afloat”, 9 March 2010.
915 WNN, “Reactors installed on floating plant”, 1 October 2013.
916 Ok-inform-ru, “Visit icebreaker “Arktika” and “Sibir””, 8 December 2015, see http://okinform.ru/photoarchive/osmotr-ledokolov/osmotr-ledokolov-arktika-i-sibir-i-teploelektrostantsii-akademiklomonosov-1-12641.html,
accessed 28 March 2016.
917 U.S.EIA, “Russia”, 12 March 2014, see http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=RS, accessed 12 May 2015.
918 NTI, “Floating nuclear reactors could fall prey to terrorist, experts say”, Global Security Newswire,
13 August 2010, see http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/floating-nuclear-reactors-could-fall-prey-to-terrorists-expertssay/,
accessed 2 July 2015.
919 NIW, “Briefs—Russia”, 24 July 2015.
920 NIW, “Briefs—Russia”, 7 August 2015.
921 WNA, “Nuclear Power in Russia”, Updated March 2016, see http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-
Profiles/Countries-O-S/Russia--Nuclear-Power/, accessed 28 March 2016.
922 RussianConstruction.com, “Builders of the second Kursk nuclear power station granted a license”,
3 June 2016, see http://russianconstruction.com/news-1/23980-builders-of-the-second-kursk-nuclear-powerstation-granted-a-license.html,
accessed 29 June 2016.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 209 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016