The problem of centralized power supply to the vast North, Far East, and some other regions of Russia is getting more acute each year. For all these regions, safe and economically effective average-power nuclear co-generation plants could be used. In the European part of Russia there are dozens of places, where average power plants can be deployed. For a town with the population of 300 thousand, like Komsomolsk-on-Amur it is optimal to use an average-power two-module nuclear co-generation plant with the connected electric load of up to 300MW in condensation mode.
Ship nuclear plants have a number of characteristics that are especially advantageous for use in commercial power industry. Besides, they are effective from the point of view of compliance with the toughened safety requirements and have stability against extreme conditions and modern threat such as terrorism. Ship plants are fundamentally better protected against external effects, including extreme blast-shock loads, which was demonstrated by the fact that during the accident with «Kursk» nuclear submarine, its nuclear power plant remained completely intact.
Availability of a proven technology, of production facilities and naval infrastructure, and existing experience in design and operation of similar plants permit to solve other essential issues of nuclear power: considerable shortening of nuclear power unit construction and commissioning term, improvement of NPP performance induces, and decrease of personnel strength. This is the basis of nuclear power competitiveness.
During the last years, the general idea to use conversion potential of defense industry enterprises in nuclear power is realized in actual research and design development.