Russia to tow controversial nuclear power station to Arctic: report

by Chris Mills Rodrigo - 07/01/19 7:52 AM ET

Russia will tow a controversial floating nuclear power plant to the Arctic next month, CNN reported Sunday.

The Akademik Lomonosov will float next to a small Arctic port town of Pevek, nearly 4,000 miles from Moscow.

The move will allow the plant to provide electricity to settlements and companies extracting hydrocarbons in the Chukotka region, according to CNN.

{mosads}The floating plant, which will be the farthest north nuclear station in the world, has received criticism from environmental groups.

The Lomonosov platform has been dubbed “Chernobyl on ice” or “floating Chernobyl” by Greenpeace, referring to the Soviet power plant that melted down in the 1980s.

Rosatom, the state company in charge of Russia’s nuclear projects, has been fighting against this nickname, saying such criticism is unfounded.

“It’s totally not justified to compare these two projects. These are baseless claims, just the way the reactors themselves operate work is different,” Vladimir Iriminku, Lomonosov’s chief engineer for environmental protection, told CNN.

“Of course, what happened in Chernobyl cannot happen again. … And as it’s going to be stationed in the Arctic waters, it will be cooling down constantly, and there is no lack of cold water,” Iriminku said.

Tags Arctic Energy Moscow Nuclear power Russia