Power beyond the Arctic Circle. Bilibino NPP

The firstborn of nuclear energy in the Arctic Circle, Bilibino NPP, is a unique structure that ensures the functioning of the gold mining and mining enterprises of Chukotka. The bulk of the population of the Chukotka district is concentrated in towns and villages, only a very small number of people live in the tundra and forest-tundra, and the mountainous areas are completely deserted. The nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 48 MW is located near Bilibino. The nuclear power plant supplies the residents of the district center and other settlements of Chukotka and Yakutia with electric and thermal energy. The population of Bilibino is small - only 5.5 thousand inhabitants. Has a steady tendency to decrease due to migration to the central regions of the Russian Federation. Bilibino NPP was removed from Pevek, the center of Chaunsky district, by 378 km. From the port of Zeleny cape, district center of the Republic of Sakha, the station is separated by 286 kilometers.

Construction of the only nuclear power plant in permafrost conditions began in late 1967. The first power unit with the reactor installation was put into operation at the projected capacity level in January 1974. In the next two years, three more power units were commissioned. The Bilibino NPP is connected with the isolated system of the Chaun-Bilibinsky Power Grid by a transmission line with a length of 1,000 kilometers.

Like other nuclear power plants in Russia, the nuclear power plant in Chukotka is a branch of Rosenergoatom Concern. In 2011, the management of the concern decided to close the station, since it was irrational to use this facility for more than 45 years. Such a decision is caused by a number of reasons. First and foremost, the economic inexpediency of the operation of the nuclear power facility in a sparsely populated region. For 12 years (1989-2011) the population of the city of Bilibino decreased almost 3 times - from 15 600 to 5 500 thousand inhabitants. In addition, there are a number of problems related to the safety of operation of equipment that has worked for more than 30 years and, to a certain extent, exhausted its resource.

Chukotka's power engineers report that the environmental policy of the nuclear power plant is formed and implemented in full compliance with the provisions of the "Environmental Policy" of the State Corporation Rosatom, and Bilibino NPP has its own environmental service, represented by the Environmental Protection Laboratory . Indeed, the activities of the nuclear power plant are supported by appropriate decisions, licenses, conclusions of the sanitary and epidemiological service, limits and regulations. However, the presence of a set of necessary permits in the field of nature management does not guarantee a real reduction in the release of radioactive gases, consumers of which are residents of Bilibino, located just 3.5 kilometers from the site of the station, and the nature of Chukotka.

In April 2013, during the meeting of R. Kopin, the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and F. Tukhvetov, the director of the Bilibino nuclear power plant, the measures to be taken to prepare the decommissioning of power units, to replace the outgoing facilities and to remove spent nuclear fuel were discussed . Of course, decommissioning of the Bilibino NPP power units will require additional resources.