The first-born of nuclear energy beyond the Arctic Circle, the Bilibino NPP, is a unique structure that ensures the functioning of gold mining and mining enterprises in Chukotka. The bulk 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. A nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 48 MW is located near Bilibino. The nuclear power plant supplies electric and heat energy 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 tendency to decrease due to migration to the central regions of the Russian Federation. Bilibino NPP is 378 km from Pevek city, the center of Chaunsky district. From the port of Cape Verde, the regional center of the Republic of Sakha, the station is separated by 286 kilometers.
The construction of the only nuclear power plant in permafrost began in late 1967. The first power unit with a reactor installation was brought to the designed power level in January 1974. In the next two years, three more power units were commissioned. The Bilibino NPP is connected to the isolated system of the Chaun-Bilibino power center by a power 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. There are several reasons for this decision. First of all, the economic inexpediency of the operation of a nuclear power facility in a sparsely populated region. Over the 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 associated with the safe operation of equipment that has worked for more than 30 years and, to a certain extent, has exhausted its resource.
Chukotka energy experts 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 the Bilibino NPP has its own environmental service, represented by the environmental protection laboratory. Indeed, the activities of the nuclear power plant are supported by relevant decisions, licenses, conclusions of the sanitary and epidemiological service, limits and standards. However, the presence of a set of necessary permits in the field of nature management does not guarantee a real reduction in the emissions of radioactive gases, the consumers of which are residents of Bilibino, located just 3.5 kilometers from the station’s industrial site, 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 measures to be taken to prepare the decommissioning of power units, replacing decommissioned capacities and the removal of spent nuclear fuel were discussed. Of course, decommissioning of Bilibino NPP units will require additional resources.
