Russia builds a small nuclear reactor for a gold mine in the Russian Arctic

A small nuclear reactor for a gold mine in the Russian Arctic

Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear company, is building a small nuclear reactor for a gold mine in the Russian Arctic that has no connection to the national electricity grid, the network of power lines and plants that supplies most of the country. The reactor, called Shelf M, is rated at 10 megawatts electric, a measure of how much power it can generate at once, and ships as a single module weighing about 370 tonnes, 11 meters long and 8 meters wide, Nuclear Engineering International reports, citing an investment decision Rosatom finalized in July 2026. Rosatom, in its own account of the design, states that the emergency cooling system works by natural circulation and needs no power supply or pumps to keep the reactor safe if something goes wrong.

I am sure that our cooperation will contribute to unlocking the economic and investment potential of Chukotka region and the entire far east of Russia.

Vladimir Verkhovtsev, director general of Atomredmetzoloto, the mining division at Rosatom. Source 3.

Why is Russia building a nuclear reactor to power a gold mine

The reactor is meant for the Sovinoye gold deposit, discovered in the 1970s on the coast of the Chukchi Sea in the Iultin District of Chukotka, a region in the far northeast of Russia. A Rosatom subsidiary called ELKON MMP bought the license to survey, explore and mine the site in 2020. Neither the deposit nor the mine sits near an existing power grid, so Rosatom is building a reactor onsite to run the mine directly instead. Shelf M is 1 of at least 3 Arctic reactor projects Russia is building for exactly this reason, to power remote mines that have no grid connection at all.

A gap between the mine target and the reactor schedule

To develop the Sovinoye field, we plan to reach its design capacity in 2029 and produce at least three tonnes of gold a year.

Vyacheslav Galaktionov, director general of JSC Elkonsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant, the mine operator. Source 4.

But an update Rosatom published in July 2026 states that the reactor meant to power that mine was still at the engineering site survey stage, with modules not due to arrive on site until 2027 and physical start up not planned before 2030, and commercial commissioning not targeted until 2032. That leaves the mine aiming for full gold production 1 to 3 years before the reactor meant to power it is fully running, and none of the sources checked for this article state what would power the mine in that gap.

Not part of a renewable energy push

Zoom out, and Shelf M is not part of a renewable energy push. Russia generated 1,162 terawatt hours of electricity in 2023, a terawatt hour equal to 1 billion kilowatt hours, enough to power millions of homes for a year, the World Nuclear Association states in its own count, and wind, solar, biofuels and waste combined supplied only about 11.4 terawatt hours of that total, about 1%, a calculation MAOWCE made from those 2 figures, since the association itself does not state that share as a percent. Nuclear supplied 217 terawatt hours, 19% of the total, and natural gas supplied 511 terawatt hours, 44%, the largest single source of electricity in the country.