The Next Chernobyl Could Be at Sea
Russia and China are leading a push to put nuclear reactors on mobile floating platforms. Rules need to catch up.
The Akademik Lomonosov will soon be on its way to Siberia.
Photographer: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty ImagesLater this month, a flotilla of tugboats will leave Murmansk, a port in Russia's northwest, towing the Akademik Lomonosov, a floating nuclear power plant. The ships will travel 3,700 miles east to Pavek, a remote port in Russia's northeast. There the plant's two small reactors will power homes, as well as mining and drilling operations.
It's an audacious and expensive undertaking and it may be only the start. China plans to launch as many as 20 floating nuclear plants in the next decade. U.S. investors hope to build an assembly line in South Korea to produce affordable seaborne reactors.