Russia floats new nuclear power station—and new risks
As world-first platform makes its way east, international watchdogs raise concerns.
By Eric Adams Yesterday at 12:00pm
The world’s first commercial floating nuclear power station—a 21,500-metric-ton Russian vessel called the Akademik Lomonosov—is slowly making its way across the Arctic Ocean, on a multi-stage trip to its final destination in eastern Russia. People are not happy about it.
Environmental and nuclear watchdogs worry the station could hit an iceberg and sink while crossing the Arctic, spilling nuclear fuel into the fragile northern ecosystem. Or it could run aground, fouling the landscape, or be tossed by waves in a storm, or even—once installed in the remote coastal town of Pevek, 53 miles across the Bering Strait from Alaska—be attacked by terrorists or fail for any number of other reasons. One need only look at Japan’s Fukushima plant to see that water and nukes don’t always mix.
https://www.popsci.com/russian-nuclear-power-station-academik-lomonosov
