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Primorsky named as possible nuclear power plant location

Monday, 25 October 2021

Grid development in Russia's Far East will create more opportunities for nuclear energy, Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak said, noting that plans for a new nuclear power plant in Primorsky are being drawn up.

Primorsky named as possible nuclear power plant location — Yevgeny Grabchak at Russian Energy Week, earlier this month (Image: Roscongress/Maxim Grigoriev)

Russia has a unified electricity grid which covers most of the country, but some regional grids remain in Siberia and far eastern regions such as Yakutia. Connecting these together is "long overdue," Grabchak told the Federal Council on 20 October, adding that, "We are moving in this direction and believe that this task will be implemented." Doing so will enable the wider region to develop exports based on its oil, gas, coal and hydro energy resources. It also will enable "placing modern nuclear power units" in the area, said Grabchak in remarks reported by the Federal Council official publication.

"For example," said Grabchak, "a project for the construction of a Primorsky nuclear power plant is being worked out today." He did not give any further details, but said that President Vladimir Putin had instructed officials to update plans for both nuclear and hydro development by the end of this year.

Primorsky is a heavily forested region on Russia's Pacific Coast and shares borders with China and North Korea. Its industrial and administrative hub is Vladivostok.

There have previously been proposals for VBER-300 units to be built in Primorsky, and Russian aluminium producer Rusal has previously discussed including nuclear reactors as dedicated power sources for its aluminium smelter developments in the region, but these ideas are not active at this time.