Rosatom and the Far East Development Corporation (FEDC) have entered into a cooperation agreement to build Russia's first onshore small nuclear power plant (SNPP) in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). This is what the Atomnaya Energiya 2.0 portal reports.

Kirill Kamenev, Deputy Director General for Investment Attraction at FEDC, said that today businesses investing in the development of our northern territories have a number of preferences.

'We take into account the specific features of the Far East and the Arctic, which include remote and isolated areas without a centralised electricity supply and a large number of promising mineral deposits. The establishment of a small nuclear power plant in the macro-region would have a positive impact on their industrial development and, most importantly, would provide a guaranteed local source of energy at an affordable price for the consumer. The pilot project to build the surface station will be implemented in conjunction with the development of the Kyuchus field,' he said.

At the heart of the small nuclear power plant project is the latest Russian development, the RITM-200H water-to-water nuclear reactor, which is the result of an innovative adaptation of ship-built small power technology for a land-based location. The RITM-200 series reactors have been tested in the harsh conditions of the Arctic on Russia's newest icebreakers and meet all post-Fukushima safety requirements for modern nuclear power plant designs. The plant is characterised by its compactness, modularity and shorter construction times than high-capacity nuclear power plants.