The firstborn of nuclear power beyond the Arctic Circle, the Bilibino NPP, is a unique facility that ensures the operation of gold mining and mining enterprises in Chukotka. The main part of the population of the Chukotka District is concentrated in cities and towns, 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 electricity and heat to residents of the district center and other settlements of Chukotka and Yakutia.
The population of Bilibino is small - only 5.5 thousand inhabitants. It has a steady downward trend due to migration to the central regions of the Russian Federation. The Bilibino NPP is 378 km away from the town of Pevek, the center of the Chaun district. From the port of Zeleny Mys, the regional center of the Republic of Sakha, the station is separated by 286 kilometers.
Constructionthe only nuclear power plant in permafrost began at the end of 1967. The first power unit with a reactor plant was brought to the projected power level in January 1974. In the next two years, three more power units were put into operation. The Bilibino NPP is connected to the isolated system of the Chaun-Bilibino energy hub by a 1,000-kilometer transmission line.
Like other nuclear power plants in Russia, the nuclear power plant in Chukotka is a branch of the Rosenergoatom Concern. In 2011, the management of the concern decided to close the station, since it was not rational to use this facility for more than 45 years. This decision was due to a number of reasons. First of all, the economic inexpediency of the operation of a nuclear power facility in a sparsely populated region. For 12 years (1989–2011), the population of the city of Bilibino decreased by almost 3 times - from 15,600 to 5,500 thousand inhabitants. In addition, there are a number of problems associated with the safety of operation of equipment that has worked for more than 30 years and, to a certain extent, has exhausted its resource.
Energymen of Chukotka report that the environmental policy of the nuclear power plant has been formed and is being implemented in full accordance with the provisions of the "Environmental Policy" of the State Corporation "Rosatom", and the Bilibino NPP has its own environmental service, represented by the environmental protection laboratory. Indeed, the activities of the nuclear power plant are backed up by relevant decisions, licenses, conclusions of the sanitary and epidemiological service, limits andstandards. However, the presence of a set of necessary permits in the field of nature management does not guarantee a real reduction in emissions of radioactive gases, the consumers of which are the residents of Bilibino, located just 3.5 kilometers from the industrial site of the station, and the nature of Chukotka.
In April 2013, during a meeting between R. Kopin, Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and F. Tukhvetov, Director of the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant, the activities to be carried out in order to prepare for the decommissioning of power units, replacement of retired capacities and removal of spent nuclear fuel. Of course, the decommissioning of the power units of the Bilibino NPP will require additional resources.
