Rosatom cagey about cost of nuclear power stations
DESPITE building dozens of nuclear reactors across the world, Russia’s state-owned nuclear operator, Rosatom, is not saying what SA can expect to pay when it eventually starts its own procurement process.
The company has 29 nuclear reactors in various stages of planning and construction.
While Rosatom has raised its charm offensive ahead of SA’s anticipated procurement of nuclear power stations this year, the company’s executives passed the buck among themselves when pressed on price estimates last week.
Leos Tomicek, vice-president of Rosatom Overseas, pleaded ignorance about any price estimates should SA press ahead and appoint his company to build the country’s next fleet of stations. “I do not know what the price would be because that depends on a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration,” he said in an interview in Moscow last week.
Rosatom Overseas is the stateowned company’s development arm outside Russia and is the chosen builder of Turkey’s $20bn Akkuyu 800MW project, the construction of which will start next year. It is also involved in the construction of two 2,400MW units in Belarus, while the second unit of India’s Kudankulam will be commissioned later this year.
South African officials have given a $40bn initial estimate for the country’s mooted nuclear procurement programme.
The cost estimate includes surveying a chosen construction site, developing regulatory capacity and building time.
Mr Tomicek’s colleagues, including Dmitry Bugaev, the chief engineer of Rosatom’s new projects design team, had pointed to Mr Tomicek as the correct person to provide guidance on price estimates.
Throughout a four-day media trip to Rosatom’s facilities in Russia, officials were tight-lipped on pricing.
Rosatom is regarded as the front-runner to build SA’s mooted 9,600MW nuclear-powered stations when it starts procurement later this year. France’s Areva and Westinghouse, the US nuclear outfit owned by Japan’s Toshiba, are the other contenders, as well as nuclear builders from China and South Korea.
The Russians were, however, not shy to talk about how long it took to bring new nuclear power stations to production.
Mr Bugaev said: “We’d need at least three years of preparation after the deal is signed before we can start construction. It would then take about 60 months to complete the first generating unit of a plant.”
A lot of the work depended on the country’s regulatory environment. Subsequent units would be brought online at about 40-month intervals, he said.
If SA sticks to its target of choosing a builder for its purported fleet of stations by March next year, it can only realistically expect to commission its first plant after 2026.
Rosatom is bidding to build up to 9,600MW of nuclear generators with the latest variation of its VVER–TOI technology.
“This is reliable technology that has always served Russia well for many years,” said Mr Bugaev.
As a rule, Rosatom accepted all responsibilities for the safe operation of a power station, including the storage and treatment of spent fuel, said Mr Bugaev.
In Russia, the company runs 21 generating units, producing a total of 21,800MW. In comparison, Eskom’s nuclear generating plant at Koeberg generates 1,800MW. Rosatom hosted Mantshantsha in Russia.