Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant set sail on Aug. 23 from the Arctic port of Murmansk Commercial Seaport, located on the eastern shore of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea. The port ranks fourth in Russia in terms of processed goods and is the second-largest port in northwest Russia.
The Russian state nuclear company Rosatom developed the floating nuclear power plant, known as Akademik Lomonosov.
The Akademik Lomonosov’s mobility will boost the power supply to remote areas. It will sail 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) from the Arctic port of Murmansk to Chukotka, which lies across the Bering Strait from Alaska.
The plant will replace a coal-fired power plant and an aging nuclear power plant supplying more than 50,000 people with electricity in the town of Pevek.
The plant’s voyage comes at a time of heightened concern over nuclear energy, following a deadly blast this month in northern Russia, which killed five nuclear engineers and released radiation.