Friday, April 20, 2007
Russia floats N-power plants for export
MOSCOW: Russia has started building the worldâs first floating nuclear power station, officials said, a project anti-nuclear activists say is the most dangerous to come out of the atomic sector for a decade.
Russia hopes to export the power plants for use in seas from the Indian Ocean to the Arctic. The first floating station is due to be ready in 2010 and there are plans to build six more. Russian officials say the stations are a safe way to supply power to desolate regions and the energy-hungry economies of Asia, Africa and Latin America without risking the proliferation of nuclear know how.
Sergei Ivanov, Russiaâs powerful first deputy prime minister, this week presided over the start of work on the first floating station at a secret submarine plant on the White Sea. âMany countries are beginning to ask us âwhen can we buy these plants?ââ Ivanov was quoted as saying by Rosenergoatom, the agency which runs Russiaâs nuclear power stations and is footing the bill for building the plants.
âThis is the most dangerous project that has been launched by the atomic sector in the whole world over the past decade,â Ivan Blokov, campaign director of Greenpeace Russia, said.
âIt is scary as this is basically going to be a floating atomic bomb,â he told Reuters. President Vladimir Putin last year approved the biggest revamp of the Russian nuclear industry since the Chernobyl accident, which curbed the Kremlinâs appetite for atomic energy.
The explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine â then part of the Soviet Union â on April 26, 1986, spewed radioactive dust over much of Europe.
But Kremlin leaders now see the development of the nuclear sector as a way to boost Russian clout on the world stage.
The 9-billion-rouble ($352 million) floating nuclear stations will have two nuclear reactors, which use uranium enriched to a maximum of 20 percent. Total capacity will be 70 megawatts and the stations will also desalinate seawater. Nuclear officials say the reactors, used by atomic icebreakers, are sturdy enough to withstand earthquakes.
They say the reactor powering the Kursk nuclear submarine survived intact despite a blast which sunk the vessel in August 2000 with the loss of all 118 crew.
âThe reactor (on the Kursk) was put through an incredible trial but afterwards experts said it could have been immediately restarted,â Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.
The first power plant will be named âAcademician Lomonosovâ. Mikhail Lomonosov was an 18th-century Russian scientist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his work in chemistry and physics and was founder of Moscowâs state university.
Customers could include Russian state controlled gas giant Gazprom, the northern region of Chukotka and countries from Namibia to Indonesia, industry sources told Reuters. Russiaâs leading physicist, Yevgeny Velikhov, predicted high demand: âIt will be like an order for an aircraft â want a nuclear power station? Then order one.â
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\20\story_20-4-2007_pg7_5
Russia floats N-power plants for export
MOSCOW: Russia has started building the worldâs first floating nuclear power station, officials said, a project anti-nuclear activists say is the most dangerous to come out of the atomic sector for a decade.
Russia hopes to export the power plants for use in seas from the Indian Ocean to the Arctic. The first floating station is due to be ready in 2010 and there are plans to build six more. Russian officials say the stations are a safe way to supply power to desolate regions and the energy-hungry economies of Asia, Africa and Latin America without risking the proliferation of nuclear know how.
Sergei Ivanov, Russiaâs powerful first deputy prime minister, this week presided over the start of work on the first floating station at a secret submarine plant on the White Sea. âMany countries are beginning to ask us âwhen can we buy these plants?ââ Ivanov was quoted as saying by Rosenergoatom, the agency which runs Russiaâs nuclear power stations and is footing the bill for building the plants.
âThis is the most dangerous project that has been launched by the atomic sector in the whole world over the past decade,â Ivan Blokov, campaign director of Greenpeace Russia, said.
âIt is scary as this is basically going to be a floating atomic bomb,â he told Reuters. President Vladimir Putin last year approved the biggest revamp of the Russian nuclear industry since the Chernobyl accident, which curbed the Kremlinâs appetite for atomic energy.
The explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine â then part of the Soviet Union â on April 26, 1986, spewed radioactive dust over much of Europe.
But Kremlin leaders now see the development of the nuclear sector as a way to boost Russian clout on the world stage.
The 9-billion-rouble ($352 million) floating nuclear stations will have two nuclear reactors, which use uranium enriched to a maximum of 20 percent. Total capacity will be 70 megawatts and the stations will also desalinate seawater. Nuclear officials say the reactors, used by atomic icebreakers, are sturdy enough to withstand earthquakes.
They say the reactor powering the Kursk nuclear submarine survived intact despite a blast which sunk the vessel in August 2000 with the loss of all 118 crew.
âThe reactor (on the Kursk) was put through an incredible trial but afterwards experts said it could have been immediately restarted,â Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.
The first power plant will be named âAcademician Lomonosovâ. Mikhail Lomonosov was an 18th-century Russian scientist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his work in chemistry and physics and was founder of Moscowâs state university.
Customers could include Russian state controlled gas giant Gazprom, the northern region of Chukotka and countries from Namibia to Indonesia, industry sources told Reuters. Russiaâs leading physicist, Yevgeny Velikhov, predicted high demand: âIt will be like an order for an aircraft â want a nuclear power station? Then order one.â
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\20\story_20-4-2007_pg7_5
