A waterborne nuclear power plant branded a “floating Chernobyl” by critics is being towed to the Russian Arctic, where it will provide energy to isolated factories and settlements. The Akademik Lomonosov will be moored in Pevek’s port in the remote Chukotka region, off the Arctic coast. It is the first floating station of its kind and is powered by two nuclear reactors modified from those used in atomic icebreakers. Its makers say that it is extremely robust and capable of withstanding pack ice or a tsunami. The vessel was to be loaded with nuclear fuel and tested in St Petersburg, but this will now take place in the northern port of Murmansk after opposition from Baltic states. Environmental campaigners have called it a dangerous project. “To test a nuclear reactor in a densely populated area like the centre of St Petersburg is i rresponsible to say the least,” Jan Haverkamp, nuclear expert for Greenpeace, said. “However, moving the testing of this ‘nuclear Titanic’ away from the public eye will not make it less so. Nuclear reactors bobbing around the Arctic Ocean will pose a shockingly obvious threat to a fragile environment which is already under enormous pressure from climate change.” Mr Haverkamp said that the plant was a “hazardous venture” and that the risks of such projects had not been properly considered. “The floating nuclear power plants will typically be put to use near coastlines and shallow water,” he said. “Contrary to claims regarding safety the flatbottomed hull and the floating nuclear plant’s lack of self-propulsion makes it particularly vulnerable to tsunamis and cyclones.”
Times 30th April 2018 read more »
