Russia’s energy security proposals for the international community

Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of the Kurchatov Institute research center and the Institute of Crystallography, and non-voting member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Before speaking about potential Russian suggestions of ways to ensure energy security, I would like to say that the planet’s countries, in particular industrialized ones, have a common energy future.

I fully agree with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that we should find new approaches to the development of the global power industry. Here are some of the proposals Russia could make to the international community.

International cooperation is growing in the production and delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to consumers. On the one hand, LNG transportation is substantially extending the opportunities of producers and makes Russia, in particular, a serious player on the global energy market. But on the other hand, it offers consumer countries, primarily the United States, an alternative source of energy. In this sense, the development of the Shtokman field in Russia could be of crucial significance for North America.

Antiterrorism safety is a crucial task during the transportation of LNG by tankers. Some experts believe in the current situation extremists planning to do serious damage only need to choose a gas tanker, whose explosion is comparable to a nuclear explosion.

Acting on the initiative of Academician Yevgeny Velikhov, the president of the Kurchatov Institute research center and secretary of the Public Chamber, we have started research into the creation of a safe underwater LNG transportation and storage system. Russia could offer its ideas of ensuring the safety of LNG transportation and storage to the international community.

In my opinion, Russia is prepared to discuss with partners fundamentally new types of interaction in the nuclear industry. The construction of a nuclear power plant is a big, long and complicated process, which means major outlays and individual design for each NPP.

But if we start producing NPPs in “batches,” we will reduce the duration of construction and make it controlled and understandable. One more positive result would be the standardization of nuclear reactors, which will eventually become cheaper. If we mount an NPP on a special sea platform or a barge, we will have a floating NPP that can be towed to any part of the world. Russia has experience in this sphere, as it produces different types of vessels with nuclear engines, including nuclear-powered submarines.

A floating NPP could have skilled teams replacing each other in shifts capable of doing minor repairs. Most importantly, such NPPs would be provided with reactor fuel in strict compliance with the nonproliferation regime. They can be reliably protected and at smaller outlays than we need to ensure the safety of onshore NPPs.

I mentioned this idea above all as the development ideology, with technologies created not by each individual country but jointly. This is a fundamentally new move, an innovation project which Russia can discuss with the leading world powers. The innovative elements of the floating NPPs are “mass production” of nuclear reactors, an original solution of the nonproliferation issue, and the use of leasing in the nuclear industry.

Specialists agree that this issue would benefit Russia and the international community. Being a highly technological power with a wealth of experience, Russia has all the requisite components for the implementation of this project. In my opinion, this offer could become one of the biggest Russian challenges in power engineering.

However, while building new energy facilities, we should also focus on the task of saving energy. The energy crisis that hit Europe and America in the 1970s encouraged the formulation of energy-saving proposals that eventually led to the reduction of energy consumption several-fold. We now have manifold plate glass, energy-saving automobile engines, and many other good things.

Many more ideas of energy efficiency and saving are being proposed, including the conversion of lighting to electroluminescent (EL) diodes. This is a nascent market where Russia is only getting a foothold. EL diodes generate brighter light by consuming less energy and will therefore save energy.

The world has become aware of a progressive shortage of energy and the need to build more generating facilities. But energy saving can curtail the need for new generating facilities.

The world has converted from the filament lamp to the luminescent lamp ten years ago, and is now introducing EL diodes. The use of energy-saving technologies entails primarily the introduction of innovations, including EL diodes. This is the main development path for all industrialized countries, because it will curtail the need for building new generating facilities and hence reduce spending manifold.

Over 2 billion people on the planet have no energy supplies. If we create an efficient energy-saving source of light based on EL diodes and combine it with an efficient sun battery, the developing countries of Africa and Southeast Asia will solve a great number of social problems, including lighting. This is a giant project and Russia could suggest it to other countries for joint implementation.

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