There are currently two active nuclear power plants in the region: the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant (features four 12 mW reactors) and the floating nuclear power station Akademik Lomonosov (features two 35 mW reactors), both of them located in the Chukotka region.
With the annual energy consumption in the Russian Far East already at a little less than 70 billion kWh and expected to reach 96 billion kWh by 2030, the need for new power-generating facilities in the region seems clear.
Having noted that the apparent lack of electricity stymies the development in the region, such as construction of new industrial facilities and infrastructure, Putin thus tasked the government with developing a new long-term power generation development program for the Far East.
According to the data provided by Russian nuclear power company Rosenergoatom, several new nuclear power plants are expected to be built in the Far East:
- the Khabarovsk Nuclear Power Plant, to be constructed in the Khabarovsk region; its two 600 mW reactors are expected to become operational by 2036 and 2038, respectively;
- the Primorsky Nuclear Power Plant, to be constructed in the Primorsky Krai; its two 600 mW reactors are supposed to go online by 2039 and 2042, respectively;
- two smaller nuclear power plants are going to be built in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and in Chukotka;
- a new floating nuclear power station is also expected to be deployed in Chukotka.