Russia's Rosatom Global In Nuclear Energy Industry

From R.Ravichandran MOSCOW, June 2 (Bernama) -- Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom), the global leader in nuclear energy industry, is currently building 29 nuclear power plant (NPP) units in several countries and nine at home. According to Rosatom, the projects abroad are being constructed in countries that already have nuclear energy like Hungary and Finland as well as in newcomers countries, namely Bangladesh, Turkey, Vietnam, Belarus, Egypt, and Jordan. In China and India, NPP units built by Rosatom are already operational. The nuclear reactors constructed by Russia are of the VVER (water-water energetic reactor energy) type, one of the commonest types of nuclear reactors worldwide, employing light water as coolant and moderator. Today there are 56 VVER reactors operating in 11 countries, Rosatom said, adding that modern VVER reactors of 1,000 and 1,200 MW capacity were of generation 3+ and met all the latest and most strict safety standards, including post-Fukushima requirements. Rosatom's statistics speak volume of its great leap forward as a state-owned company with 70 years of experience in managing national nuclear power programmes. By the end of 2014, the overseas orders portfolio for the next 10 years reached a record indicator of US$101.4 billion (US1 = RM3.69), up 39 per cent from US$72.7 billion the previous year. "Such sound results guarantee Rosatom's competitiveness in the coming years," Rosatom Chief Executive Officer Sergey Kirienko said of Rosatom, the world's only company with a complete nuclear power cycle and holds a leading position in the nuclear technologies market. Building nuclear power plants is no simple means in terms of financing as it requires large capital expenditures. Rosatom solutions on project financing encompass a wide range of opportunities covering both strategic and institutional investors attraction, and debt financing. For instance, in Turkey, for first time in the world Rosatom implemented the build-own-operate scheme for a nuclear power plant project. Apart from financing, Rosatom offers foreign clients solutions in national nuclear infrastructure creation and personnel training. Today, Rosatom is number one in terms of number of NPP units being constructed overseas. In terms of installed capacity among nuclear power companies, Rosatom is number two in the world. It also captures 36 per cent of the world's uranium enrichment services market, while its share of the world's nuclear fuel market is 17 per cent. Rosatom incorporates more than 250 enterprises and scientific institutions, including research organisations and the world's only nuclear icebreakers fleet. The company never stop thinking about the best nuclear technologies in the face of challenges, including the geographical ones in providing power supply to outlying and remote regions in various parts of the world. In this context, Rosatom intends to start up the world's first floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) in 2018, after which it will be ready to present the project on the world market. Rosatom said that even now the potential of the project generates practical interest in a number of countries. In July 29, 2014, Rosatom Overseas, a subsidiary of Rosatom, and China's CNNC New Energy signed a Memorandum of Intentions for cooperation in a FNPP project. China is planning to use FNPPs for development and electric power supply on its insular territories. The FNPP is unique as it is a separate power facility that is totally manufactured at a shipyard as a non-self propelled vessel and then it is towed by sea or river to the operation site. Some 40 countries are attending the three-day 7th ATOMEXPO International Forum on Nuclear Energy (ATOMEXPO 2015) organised by Rosatom, from yesterday. --BERNAMA