Nuke plants may float in Siberia
IQALUIT — The Russian Ministry of Nuclear Energy wants to build several floating nuclear power plants in remote Northern regions, says the World Wildlife Fund.
The proposed $400 million plants would be built on 160-metre-long barges and towed from one Siberian port to another. On board would be two reactors, which could be connected to the local electricity grid.
Environmentalists fear the possibility of a large-scale nuclear disaster and say such an incident would be even more probable on a floating plant. A nuclear meltdown could contaminate most of the Arctic coast around Chukotka and across the Bering Strait to Alaska.
Disposal of nuclear waste from these floating nuclear plants would also require shipment across Siberia and the Barents Sea.
Environmental lobby groups in Russia are protesting the plans and calling for an independent environmental review.
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