Russia Launches Floating Nuclear Power Plant to the Arctic May 9, 2018 Ken Ecott
The $232 million nuclear plant started its journey over the weekend from St. Petersburg and will head to the Arctic to power the oil-industry town of Pevek.
A massive floating nuclear power plant is now on its way to an Arctic port, after Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom launched the nuclear plant over the weekend.
Called the Akademik Lomonosov, the floating power plant is being towed at a creeping pace out of St. Petersburg, where it was built over the last nine years. It will eventually be brought northward, to Murmansk – where its two nuclear reactors will be loaded with nuclear fuel and started up this fall.
Russian officials say the Akademik Lomonosov is set to become the first series of floating nuclear power plants Russia plans to develop.
The portable plant is not self-propelled and must be towed to the desired location. It is designed to provide energy to port cities and offshore gas and oil-extracting platforms.
The floating nuclear power plant will be towed from St. Petersburg and around Norway to a Russian town called Murmansk to take on nuclear fuel. From Murmansk, the $232 million nuclear plant will head to the Arctic to power the oil-industry town of Pevek.
With two nuclear reactors, the nuclear plant will produce up to 70 MW[d] of electricity, enough to power a city of 100,000 inhabitants.
Rosatom says the nuclear plant is designed with the great margin of safety that exceeds all possible threats and makes nuclear reactors 'invincible' for tsunamis and other natural disasters.
Rosatom also added that the floating nuclear plant meets all the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency and do not pose any threats to the environment.
Despite such reassurances, Greenpeace in Russia, said it collected more than 11,000 signatures against the plan to put nuclear fuel into the plant while it floated along St. Petersburg's shores. Nuclear expert Jan Haverkamp told Engadget that having nuclear reactors moving around the Arctic Ocean creates a obvious threat to a fragile environment which is already affected by climate change.
It's now entered Norwegian waters and is expected to reach Murmansk in about two weeks, where they will load the fuel and tow it along the entire Russian Arctic coast to its destination. And as we all know the Arctic has no rough weather whatsoever.
Floating nuclear power plant entering Norwegian waters
The controversial Russian installation will spend the next two weeks along the Norwegian coast. By Atle Staalesen May 04, 2018
The «Akademik Lomonosov» is followed with a close eye by Nordic authorities as it is towed across the Baltic Sea, through the Danish straits and into Norwegian waters. Three support ships are involved in the unique operation which started in St. Petersburg on the 28th April.
By late 3rd May, the floating installation had made it south of Sjælland, the Danish island, with course for the straits of Storebælt, data from Marine Traffic show. It is likely to enter Norwegian waters in the course of Friday or Saturday this week.
The towing has a speed of up to 4,5 knots, state nuclear power company Rosatom informs.
The «Akademik Lomonosov» can itself not be tracked by GPS. But so can the tugs and support vessels «Spasatel Karaev»,«Umka» and «Yasnyy».
Followed by Norwegians
The power plant is not charged with nuclear fuel and the voyage towards Murmansk is considered without any major environmental risk. But the «Akademik Lomonosov» is a highly controversial project and perceived by neighbouring countries with a high level of skepticism.
Director for Maritime Safety in the Norwegian Coastal Administration Arve Dimmen confirms to the Barents Observer that the voyage is kept a close eye on by Norwegian authorities.
«This is the first time that such a facility is being towed along the coast of Norway, and the Coastal Administration will follow it closely,» he underlines in an email.
«The Coastal Administration’s surveillance aircraft will follow the vessels and Norwegian support ships will be stationed along the route to be able to mobilise on short notice,» he makes clear.
Dimmen confirms that normal procedures will apply if the floating power plant would need shelter because of bad weather or an emergency situation. It will be the Vardø Traffic Center which will provide the «Akademik Lomonosov» with guidance in such a situation, Dimmen makes clear.
He says that the Russians have informed that there are no people on board the installation during the towing.
Environmental concern
Also environmental groups are having their eyes on the «Akademik Lomonosov». Greenpeace vessel «Beluga-II» is sailing just few hundred meters away from the Russian ships.
Speaking from aboard the “Beluga II”, Jan Haverkamp, a nuclear expert for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe, said:
«This power plant basically moves the threat of a nuclear catastrophe into fragile Arctic waters. With its flat-bottomed hull and lack of self-propulsion it’s like balancing a nuclear power plant on a wooden palette and setting it adrift in some of the world’s roughest waters.»
Russia’s nuclear power company Rosatom originally wanted to load nuclear fuel on board the power plant ahead of its towing to Murmansk. However, after strong reactions from the Nordic countries, Rosatom decided to postpone the loading until the vessel’s arrival to Murmansk.
It was former Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende who i june 2017 announced that he had successfully managed to persuade the Russians to postpone the instalment of the fuel.
To Pevek in summer 2019
The towing is expected to last about three weeks. In Murmansk, the «Akademik Lomonosov» will be moored at the Atomflot base, along with icebreakers and other nuclear-powered vessels. After a year of testing, the power plant will be towed along the whole Russian Arctic coast to Pevek where it will be permanently based.
According to Rosatom, it is the State Marine Rescue Service which is responsible for the towing operations, both from St. Petersburg to Murmansk and from Murmansk to Pevek. Loading of nuclear fuel is planned to take place in the course of fall this year. After testing in the Kola Bay, the installation is to be towed to Pevek in the course of June 2019.
The «Akademik Lomonosov» has been under construction for more than 12 years. The building originally started at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk back in 2006. Then, the hull was moved to the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg in 2009 because the yard by the White Sea had to concentrate on building warships and submarines. In 2011, the floating nuclear power plant became central in the bankruptcy proceedings against the Baltic Shipyard.
With some improvements, the reactor of the KLT-40s type is similar to the reactors on board Russia’s fleet of nuclear powered icebreakers.
"I only read American. I want my fantasy pure." - Dave
There's floating nuclear reactors going in and around the Norwegian coast, into and out of the arctic waters all year round since the cold war began. The happen to be submersible, and because they're military, nobody bats an eyelid.
So yeah. There's a whiff of bias about this news article. Be against all nuclear reactors at sea, or, you know..
You are concerned about the anti nuclear bias? I share that bias.
"Rosatom says the nuclear plant is designed with the great margin of safety that exceeds all possible threats and makes nuclear reactors 'invincible' for tsunamis and other natural disasters."
