When one thinks of Russia and nuclear reactors what first pops to mind except Chernobyl? That little mishap was the mother of all reactor disasters. The destroyed reactor, the nearby town and neighbouring region remain highly radioactive and abandoned.
So word that Russia is now deploying the first of what will be a fleet of floating nuclear reactor power plants to the Arctic Ocean is raising a few eyebrows. Greenpeace has dubbed the first reactor barge, the Akademik Lomonosov, the world's most dangerous nuclear project in a decade. And the Lomonosov is just the first of a fleet of reactor barges planned to be stationed across Russia's northern coastline.
The first barge reactor won't be idle for long. It's slated to power a Russian high-Arctic oil and gas drilling operation. Beyond powering the oil and gas stampede to the Arctic the Russians claim their barge reactors are just the thing for the developing world too. Russia's minister for nuclear energy Sergei Kiriyenko claimed to have "numerous orders" for the floating power plants.
For those of you who worry about the fragile Arctic ecosystem, well - sorry.
So word that Russia is now deploying the first of what will be a fleet of floating nuclear reactor power plants to the Arctic Ocean is raising a few eyebrows. Greenpeace has dubbed the first reactor barge, the Akademik Lomonosov, the world's most dangerous nuclear project in a decade. And the Lomonosov is just the first of a fleet of reactor barges planned to be stationed across Russia's northern coastline.
The first barge reactor won't be idle for long. It's slated to power a Russian high-Arctic oil and gas drilling operation. Beyond powering the oil and gas stampede to the Arctic the Russians claim their barge reactors are just the thing for the developing world too. Russia's minister for nuclear energy Sergei Kiriyenko claimed to have "numerous orders" for the floating power plants.
For those of you who worry about the fragile Arctic ecosystem, well - sorry.
