Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to increase the country’s nuclear power generation capacity by approximately 30 gigawatts over the long term. He said the targeted increase would include both large and small nuclear power plants.
New plants to be built in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East
Putin said modern nuclear power plants are planned for construction in the Urals, Siberia and the Russian Far East. The facilities are intended to provide affordable, low-emission electricity.
Putin said the new energy investments would create the infrastructure needed for regional development and could support new production sectors based on the more extensive processing of natural resources in the Arctic, Siberia and the Russian Far East.
Putin said the infrastructure would also help meet rising electricity demand from electric transport, industrial robots and automated systems used in the services sector.
New capacity to increase total generation
Putin said the approximately 30-gigawatt capacity increase would not be limited to replacing nuclear power units reaching the end of their service lives. He said the plan would also significantly increase Russia’s total nuclear power generation.
Putin emphasized the need to strengthen technological readiness for building large and small nuclear power plants and called for the development of standardized power unit models suitable for serial production. He also said production based on domestic designs in the power engineering industry should be increased.
Fuel security and technology a priority
Ensuring an uninterrupted fuel supply for nuclear power plants was also among the priorities discussed at the meeting. Putin said this would require strengthening Russia’s own resource base, continuing geological exploration and bringing new deposits into operation.
Putin said Russia has expertise across the entire nuclear energy chain and stressed the need to maintain safety and reliability standards at its power plants. He noted that closed nuclear fuel cycle technologies allow fuel to be used more than once and called for these solutions to be applied more widely.
Putin said this technological capacity helps Russia maintain its position in the overseas nuclear power plant construction market. He said competition in the global nuclear energy sector was intense and that technological leadership needed to be strengthened further.
Experts to be trained for nuclear facilities
Putin also highlighted the importance of training qualified personnel to build and operate nuclear facilities. He said experts, scientists, engineers, workers and managers should receive a high level of training and have access to continuous professional development.
