First steel cast for Uzbekistan's SMR

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Steel casting is the start of the process of creating a nuclear reactor - the metallurgical blank will be transferred to other enterprises of the division for the assembly of the reactor vessel into a single unit.

Machine builders will use the first steel to create a flange for the RITM-200N reactor vessel. - the flange will ensure the connection of the reactor vessel with the top head of the upper unit.

Igor Kotov, head of the Mechanical Engineering Division of Rosatom, said "the transition to the practical implementation of the ... construction project in Uzbekistan demonstrates the high interest of foreign partners ... and their trust in Rosatom's solutions in this area. Our expertise and competencies will be applied in the manufacture of all six RITM-200N reactor units" for the small modular reactor (SMR) plant in Uzbekistan.

The background

 

The contract signed in May 2024, during a visit to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is for the construction of a 330 MW capacity nuclear power plant. The project is based on six units of the RITM-200N water-cooled reactor, which is adapted from nuclear-powered icebreakers' technology, with thermal power of 190 MW or 55 MWe and with an intended service life of 60 years. The first unit is scheduled to go critical in late 2029 with units commissioned one by one.

It was the first export order for Russia's SMR. The first land-based version is currently being built in Yakut in Russia, with the launch of the first unit scheduled to take place in 2027. Rosatom says that its combination of active and passive safety systems mean the SMR plants will achieve the highest possible safety standards.

Preparatory work on the buildings required to support construction and administration of the SMR project in the Jizzakh region of Uzbekistan began in April.

In 2017, Uzbekistan signed an agreement with Russia to construct two VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors and separate proposals remain for building a large nuclear power plant with a capacity of around 2.5 GW.