ROSATOM and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Plan to Build Small NPP with SHELF-M Reactor

On June 16, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, ROSATOM and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) signed an agreement on intentions and a procedure for organizing cooperation for promoting projects involving a small nuclear power plant based on the SHELF-M reactor.

The document was signed by ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev and the head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Aysen Nikolayev.

The project based on SHELF-M reactor with an installed electric capacity of up to 10 MW is planned to be implemented within the framework of the comprehensive federal program Development of Equipment, Technologies and Scientific Research in the Field of Nuclear Energy Use in the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2024. The commissioning of a pilot NPP based on the SHELF-M is scheduled for 2030.

In accordance with the signed agreement, in 2022 the parties plan to develop and approve a roadmap for the implementation of the project.

The construction of an NPP with SHELF-M will allow the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) to provide a reliable source of electricity to settlements and industrial enterprises located in remote areas with virtually no energy or transport infrastructure.

Currently, Yakutia is already implementing a project for the construction of a small NPP of ROSATOM design based on the latest RITM-200 reactor. The construction of the plant will ensure a stable and clean power supply to the project for the development of the Kyuchus gold deposit, one of Russia’s largest. The commissioning of the NPP in the Ust-Kuyga settlement of the Ust-Yansky district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is scheduled for 2028.