New batch of uranium fuel shipped along Russia's Northern Sea Route
Reactor No. 1 at the Akademik Lomonosov is now ready for its second fuel change since the floating nuclear power plant began producing electricity in the remote Siberian port of Pevek in December 2019.
Containers carrying fresh uranium fuel have arrived in Pevek, according to the state nuclear corporation Rosatom. Its press service, however, has not responded to questions from the Barents Observer about how the fuel elements were transported to the small town on the coast of the East Siberian Sea.
International shipping regulations set strict requirements for vessels authorised to transport radioactive materials, particularly fresh and spent nuclear fuel.
The fuel is manufactured by the ELEMASH Machine-Building Plant in Elektrostal, near Moscow. From there, it was transported by rail either to Rosatomflot's nuclear icebreaker port in Murmansk or to Arkhangelsk or Severodvinsk, from where vessels can sail along the Northern Sea Route during the shipping season.
The Akademik Lomonosov is the world's only floating nuclear power plant. Its two reactors supply electricity to a grid that is separate from the rest of Russia. The main consumers are the settlement of Pevek and the nearby Baimskaya mine, along with its planned ore-processing plant.
Unlike land-based nuclear power reactors, which typically require partial refuelling every 12 to 18 months, the marine reactors on board the Akademik Lomonosov operate for three years before undergoing a full refuelling. This involves completely unloading the reactor core and replacing it with fresh fuel.
The fuel elements in Reactor No. 1 were first replaced in 2023, followed by Reactor No. 2 in late 2024. The second refuelling cycle is now beginning with Reactor No. 1 and is expected to be followed by the second reactor by the end of 2027.
The Akademik Lomonosov has both water-cooled storage and dry storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel elements. Newly unloaded fuel elements require water cooling for several years before being transferred to dry storage, where they are cooled by natural air circulation.
Eventually, the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel must be transported back to Rosatomflot's base in Murmansk before being sent by rail to Russia's reprocessing plant at Mayak in the southern Urals.
The Barents Observer has previously reported on Rosatomflot's new special-purpose vessel, currently under construction at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg. The vessel will have Arc5 ice class and will be capable of operating in harsh Arctic waters. It will replace the Imandra, the more than 40-year-old vessel that currently serves Russia's fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers.
