Rosatom, the state-owned company building it, said that it would be the first of seven floating nuclear power stations and would bring power to Arctic regions, where it’s in short supply.

However, environmentalists fear that the stations will be used to exploit Arctic oil and gas reserves and could put the health of the region at risk should an accident occur, especially as the infrastructure to deal with nuclear emergencies is lacking.

The 70-megawatt plants, consisting of two reactors on floating steel platforms, would provide power to Russian oil firm Gazprom, enabling it to drill for oil and gas in remote Arctic regions.

Bellona, an environmental foundation that monitors nuclear contamination in Russia, has lobbied against the plans since they were first announced, warning ‘that such installations could heighten the risk of radioactive contamination of the sea and shore zones, specifically the Russian Arctic,’ according to Andrei Ponomarenko, the group’s radiation and nuclear safety projects coordinator.

Russia has a history of polluting the Arctic with nuclear waste. Twelve nuclear reactors have been dumped in the area, along with 5,000 containers of nuclear waste, according to the Guardian.

November 2009