Global market of NPP projects narrowing abruptly - Rosatom
NOVOSIBIRSK. June 21 (Interfax) - The market of nuclear technologies, especially the traditional energy industry, has been narrowing abruptly, Rosatom Deputy General Director Vyacheslav Pershukov said at the Technoprom 2017 forum in Novosibirsk on Wednesday.
"We have a huge portfolio of $130 billion, which is an average book of orders. We find it hard to image where else an order for building nuclear power plants may come from," Pershukov said.
Rosatom is shifting to operational maintenance of those nuclear power plants - it is supplying nuclear fuel and making repairs, but this is not enough for development purposes, he said.
"We can see that the market has been narrowing, and, in order to ensure sustainable development of the corporation and to fulfill our EBITDA plans, we need to earn approximately 40% of EBITDA by 2030 outside the market of nuclear technologies. This is it. We won't succeed otherwise," Pershukov said.
As to the construction of nuclear power plants in other countries, the market of large NPPs (1,000-1,200 MW) has been practically exhausted, and many countries want medium NPPs (600 MW), he said.
"As we can see, we will still be able to find new buyers and clients for the traditional product until 2020-2025 but that would be problematic afterwards," he said.
Rosatom is entering the market of floating nuclear power plants, Pershukov said. "The interest of insular countries is simply colossal," he said.
Besides, Russia has a number of projects the use of floating NPPs in which is being actively debated, yet no firm decisions have been made so far, he said.
Other promising markets for Rosatom are the defense sector and the use of additive technologies, Pershukov said.