- Overlooking environmental concerns, Russia on August 23, 2019 launched the world’s first floating nuclear reactor-Akademik Lomonosov and send it on an epic journey across the Arctic.
- Loaded with nuclear fuel, the Akademik Lomonosov left the Arctic port of Murmansk to begin its 5,000 kilometre voyage to Chukotka in Siberia. It’s trip is expected to last between four and six weeks.
- The reactor is also destined to supply electricity to offshore oil rigs in Russia’s Arctic.
- The vessel weighs 21,000 tons and has two reactors with a capacity of 35 megawatts each, close to that of those used by nuclear icebreakers.
- It has a crew of 69 and travels at a speed of 3.5 to 4.5 knots.
Environmental Concerns
- Environmental groups have long warned of the dangers of the project, dubbing it a potential “Chernobyl on ice” and a “nuclear Titanic.” Greenpeace point to previous Russian and Soviet nuclear accidents and warn that the Akademik Lomonosov’s mission increases the risk of polluting the Arctic – a remote, sparsely-populated region with no big clean-up facilities.
