From Russia with Love

Construction of the Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant continues. The vessel is designed to provide nuclear power in remote regions of the Arctic and should according to plan be completed in 2011.


The floating power plant “Akademik Lomonosov”, named after the famous Arkhangelsk scientist Mikhail Lomonosov, is being constructed at the Baltiysky Zavod yard in St Petersburg. At the moment, the vessel is being protected against hull corrosion, web site Motorship.com writes.

Construction of the vessel began at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk in April 2007, but in August 2008 Rosatom transferred the assignment to the Baltiysky Zavod in Sankt Petersburg. Construction is planned to be completed in 2011, and the vessel will then be towed to a position off the coast at Vilyuchinsk, a town in the Kamchatka region in the far east of Russia, according to Wikipedia.

Russia plans to build five such floating nuclear plants. Construction of the second vessel has been announced to start in autumn 2010. In February 2009 Rosatom and the Republic of Yakutia signed an agreement for implementing investments to build four floating nuclear power plants for use in the northern coastal areas of the Siberian Republic.

A floating nuclear power plant can operate for 40 years and need refueling only once in 10 years.

http://www.barentsobserver.com/construction-of-floating-npp-goes-as-planned.4776471-116321.html