The world's first floating nuclear power plant was built in the port of the Eastern Russian city of Pevek. This was announced by the Russian nuclear power company Rosatom.
The "Akademik Lomonosov" has loaded two nuclear reactors. It started from the northern Russian port of Murmansk at the end of August and has covered some 5,000 kilometers to its destination.
The nuclear power plant looks like a ship. It is designed to provide electricity and heat to the hard-to-reach region - enough to supply a city of about 100,000. In addition, the plant will supply energy for the gas and oil rigs with a total of 70 megawatts of power.
"Atom Titanic"
The floating nuclear power plant weighs 21,000 tons, is 144 meters long and 30 meters wide. It consists of two 35 megawatt reactors, which require about 70 workers to operate. It should remain docked in Pewek until the end of December, before it can start operations. Rosatom boss Alexei Lichatschow spoke "of a turning point for the development of small modular nuclear power plants".
However, the million-dollar project is also very controversial. Environmentalists recently warned of a possible catastrophe in the Arctic Ocean and described the plant as a "floating Chernobyl" and "Atom Titanic". It was impossible to completely protect the NPP from external threats such as storms, Vladimir Sliwjak from the environmental organization Ecodefense had said when dumping the NPP. "Unfortunately this is a very risky technology."
The total cost of the plant in Pewek Rosatom wants to call only when the project is completed. Unlike Germany, Russia relies increasingly on nuclear energy. The country is investing on a large scale in new nuclear power plants, including ex-Soviet republics.
