OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2012. Small and medium-sized reactors are considered to be one of the most perspective, safe and price affordable solutions among the new energy sources. Apart from highly reliable supplies of electricity they can also serve for supplying heat and water desalination, particularly in remote areas. Professor Larion A. Lebedev, the General Director of the State Research and Development Center for Expertise of Projects and Technologies in Moscow, spoke at the NERS 2012 conference in Prague about the latest developments in these types of reactors in the Russian Federation.

At the conference professor Lebedev represented the Consortium MIR.1200, which was one of the main partners of the conference. In his presentation Mr. Lebedev summarized the current state of particular projects of the small and medium-sized reactors. Russia is one of the world’s leaders in this area, and at the moment it is developing prototypes of many small and medium-sized reactors. These reactors are in various stages of development, from preliminary or conceptual designs, to experimental prototypes, or reactors already applicable for commercial utilization.

One of the concrete cases, presented during Mr. Lebedev’s presentation, was the prototype of floating nuclear power plant. Apart from the basic parameters Mr. Lebedev also spoke about the safety systems and potential utilization of the power plant: “It is very exceptional project, which is ideal for production of energy for desalination equipment thanks to its position on water. Present shortage of fresh water in the world is 250 billion cubic metres per year. The shortage will increase 6 times more by 2025, so the utilization of this equipment is very plausible,” mentioned Mr. Lebedev.

In his presentation Mr. Lebedev also focused on the project of modular complexes with reactor blocks SVBR-100 with 100MW performance and lead-bismuth cooling system. These reactors are being developed by the Russian company AKME-Engineering, joint company created by the State Corporation Rosatom and stock company Irkutskenergo. Construction of the pilot reactors SVBR-100 is planned for years 2015-2017, the first block is to be launched in the end of 2017. Company AKME-Engineering then plans to realize the programme of commercial construction of nuclear power plants in the world.

AKME-Engineering presented its revolutionary concept of small nuclear power plants for the world premiere during the Forum Atomex Europe, which took place in October 2012 in Prague. During the forum the Russian company signed memorandum of understanding with thirteen Czech companies, which are going to create a long-term suppliers’ base and assure diversification of supplies for the construction of reactors SVBR-100.