Russia launched a massive floating nuclear power plant, and it’s now on its way to a small Arctic town.
The floating nuclear power plant reportedly left St. Petersburg, Russia on Saturday. The 70MV power plant which has two reactors is set to sail through the Baltic Sea and north around Norway to Murmansk, a small Russian town where the two boats towing it will be refueled.
After Murmansk, the two tugboats will continue towing the floating nuclear power plant, known as the Akademik Lomonosov, until they reach the small Arctic town of Pevek. The Akademik has no propulsion hardware of its own.
In a statement released by the company who built the power plant, the Rosatom Corporation, they said that the journey from Murmansk to Pevek would begin in 2019. By that time, the floating power plant will have its fuel and crew on board.
“At the first stage, the FPU with no nuclear fuel on board will be towed from the territory of Baltiyskiy Zavod to the landing of Atomflot FSUE in Murmansk. Then, at the second stage (roughly in the summer of 2019) it will be sent from Murmansk to the seaport of Pevek, loaded with nuclear fuel and with the crew on board,” Dmitriy Alekseenko, the Deputy Head of the Directorate for the Floating NPP Construction and Operation, was quoted as saying.
Upon reaching Pevek, the nuclear power plant will provide electricity to the town, its desalination plant and oil rigs.
“The nuclear power plant has two KLT-40S reactor units that can generate up to 70 MW of electric energy and 50 Gcal/hr of heat energy during its normal operation. This is enough to keep the activity of the town populated with 100,000 people,” Rosatom went on to say.
According to reports, Russia wants the floating nuclear power plant because the area where it will be stationed is quite remote. Its location makes it more expensive to move machinery and equipment by land rather than by sea.
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