PEVEK, RUSSIA — The floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov has been connected to the electricity grid and successfully produced power for the first time in the Russian town of Pevek.<br /><br />Back in August, the vessel had set out on a three-week journey from the port of Murmansk, as reported by the Associated Press.<br /><br />As it is not self-propelled, the floating power unit was towed by a fleet of tugboats to the Russian town when it arrived on September 14.<br /><br />The vessel is 144 meters long and 30 meters wide, according to a news release from Rosatom, the company that designed the floating plant.<br /><br />The Akademik Lomonosov is equipped with two reactor systems, each with a 35-megawatt capacity. The reactors produce steam for a turbine that will then generate electricity.<br /><br />The vessel is designed to provide energy to port cities and offshore gas and oil-extracting platforms.<br /><br />It is capable of producing enough to power a city of 100,000 inhabitants.<br /><br />Rosatom claims that the floating nuclear plant is designed with a great margin of safety that exceeds all possible threats, which makes nuclear reactors "invincible" against tsunamis and other natural disasters.<br /><br />The Associated Press points out environmentalists have criticized the floating nuclear plant as "inherently dangerous" adding that it threatens the clean Arctic region.<br /><br />But Russia has dismissed these concerns, insisting that a floating nuclear power plant is completely safe.
