The Chinese oil companies ordered the floating nuclear power plants at Rosatom, ITAR-TASS reports with reference to the source close to the parties. The Chinese may be interested in such NPPs to supply their insular territories and oil rigs on the shelf with power.
On July 29, it was announced that Rusatom Overseas, a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, had signed the memorandum with China’s CNNC New Energy to build the floating nuclear power plants. The next stage is to create a Russian-Chinese working group. President of Rosatom Sergey Kirienko said earlier this year that such plants are in great demand, mostly in the far north and island countries.
Kirienko added that strategic partnership with China meant not only agreement that Rosatom would sell one-two nuclear power plants but also the possibility to have the series of such projects. At the same time, General Director of Rosenergoatom Evgeniy Romanov said that strategic partnership with China is not the priority. In his opinion, cooperation with China or South Korea is necessary because they build ship hulls cheaply and quickly. The interior will be produced by the Russians.
Rosatom has been engaged in the development of the projects on building the floating nuclear power plants for many years. The first such station was launched in St. Petersburg in 2010.
