With these prospects, Kola’s new, second nuclear power plant would start electricity production in 2035. A Finnish expert doubts that it will actually happen.
According to the Russian media, another nuclear power plant is being built on the Kola peninsula, the construction of which will start in 2028. It should be completed in 2035.
The Kola nuclear power plant in Russia was started in 1973. With that, a town named Poljarnye Zori developed around the plant. It is located about 150 kilometers from the Finnish border at the height of Sodankylä.
Project manager of the Radiation Protection Center Kim Söderling follows Russian nuclear power plants and saw the news about it today. However, he does not believe that a new power plant would be built on the Kola peninsula. According to him, the construction of a new nuclear power plant has been a topic of conversation in Russia for twenty years.
– On the Kola peninsula, there are hopes for new units. I understand that no decision has been made on this yet. This usually comes up when faith in the future is needed, for example during local elections, says Söderling.
According to him, it can only be a dream image.
However, the old units will be closed at some point. They have a license to use well into the 2030s.
Looking at the placement
According to Söderling, the new facility site for the new nuclear power plant is south of the town of Poljarnye Zori, according to Söderling. The currently operating facility is on the north side of the city. Both power plants are located on the shore of Lake Imandra.
Would Russia have the resources to build a new and safe nuclear power plant now that the country is under sanctions and connections with Western countries are cut off?
– The basic structures of Russian nuclear power plants and the components related to the reactors are their own production, so in that sense they are able to build them even under sanctions, says Kim Söderling of the Radiation Protection Agency.
The Kola nuclear power plant is an important energy producer in northwestern Russia. For fifty years, it has produced almost 500 billion kilowatts of electrical energy for the Leningrad or St. Petersburg area, the Republic of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula, says TV21 from Murmansk in its news. About 60 percent of the Murmansk region’s electricity is produced at the Kola nuclear power plant.
There are several mines and industries in the Murmansk region that need a lot of energy. In addition, the region is strategically important for Russia both geopolitically and militarily. About 650,000 people live in the Murmansk region.
Environmental organizations, including Bellona, have criticized the Kola nuclear power plant, whose reactors, according to them, have already reached the end of their life cycle some time ago. However, the old reactors have received an extension of time for their operation.