Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant has reached the Arctic port town of Pevek, its final destination in the country’s remote Far East after a three-week, 5,000-kilometer journey, AFP reported.
On Saturday, Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom announced the arrival of the nuclear power plant, which raised concerns from environmental activists, some of who dubbed it “floating Chernobyl.”
The massive plant — a 140-meter towed platform that carries two 35-megawatt nuclear reactors set sail from Murmansk, in northwestern Russia, on August 23 and traveled along the Northern Sea Route to its destination off the coast of Chukotka.
The new reactor is part of the new floating energy and heat plant, which will be a “key element in the development of the Northern Sea Route” and will help Russia “realize large infrastructural projects” in the region, Rosatom said in a statement. The reactor’s trip is expected to last between four and six weeks, depending on the weather conditions and the amount of ice on the way.
The company said electricity generated by the plant will serve the needs of small surrounding communities, along with mining facilities and offshore oil and natural gas platforms.
The nuclear plant has been named the Akademik Lomonosov after the 18th-century Russian polymath, scientist and writer Mikhail Lomonosov, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science.
