Normally I’m all for technological innovation, but this Russian idea to build a floating nuclear power plant strikes me as just a little bit dangerous…
The local government in the polar region of Archangel said yesterday they had allotted land for the 70-megawatt reactor near the Sevmashpredpriyatiye shipyard on the northern coast. It will occupy 1.5 hectares (3.8 acres) of sea space, and require 0.6 hectares of coastline to which it can be tethered.
The Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy doesn’t seem too concerned, saying it is no more dangerous than a nuclear ice-breaker (or an American aircraft carrier, I suppose). Environmental groups, however, are predictably, and quite rightly in my opinion, concerned about it. Over to Ecodefense spokesman, Vladimir Slivyak…
“If the plant loses its electricity source from the shore, it could blow up,” he said.
…But he added: “It is too crazy to be implemented, even in a country like Russia.”
Let’s hope so. Whatever your opinion on nuclear power, there are smart places to build a nuclear reactor, and there are stupid places to build a nuclear reactor. This is one of the stupid places.
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gary 04.10.04 at 9:44 pm
Evidently there is a shortage of desolate Russian real estate on which to situate nuclear reactors, so they are forced to float them out to sea.
What also puzzles me is the notion that the reactor would have a cable to the shore to proved power to the reactor….Thought it would run the other way.
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