MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. The first floating nuclear power plant for the Arctic will be built by October 2016, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday at a meeting with the participants of the eighth youth Arctic expedition.
According to the official, the assembly of the floating power unit has already begun. "It’s actually a nuclear reactor that can be connected to onshore infrastructure. It will supply electricity via a cable to any Arctic city - factually any populated locality in the Arctic zone," Rogozin said. According to him, this is unique technology that has no world analogues.
"All this will be completed soon, we will build the first floating nuclear power plant by next October. I think, it’s an interesting project for development," said the deputy prime minister. According to him, special robotic equipment, including submersibles - for the study of the shelf and ocean bottom will be created for the Arctic development.
The floating power generating unit, designed to supply electric power to major industrial enterprises, port cities and offshore gas and oil production platforms, was made on the basis of nuclear reactors which are equipped on the icebreaker vessels, previous reports said. The technology has proved itself over more than 50 years of successful operation in extreme Arctic conditions. The floating power plant is a vessel with a displacement of 21,500 tonnes and a crew of 69 people. It’s non-self-propelled and therefore has to be towed to the desired destination.