Russia's Floating Nuclear Power Plants

Reuters reports that Russia has begun construction of the world's first floating nuclear power plant. The idea is to create a 70 megawatt nuclear reactor that literally floats in the ocean as it produces power and desalinates seawater.

Russian officials are already talking about the potential for export. They say their idea is a good way to power much of the third world without spreading nuclear knowledge.

Anti-Nuclear forces are alarmed. If Russia turns nuclear power into a commodity like commercial airplanes, the potential for accidents like Chernobyl dramatically increases. The notion of a floating reactor is exceedingly alarming in particular. The spectre of a nuclear power plant being hit by an iceberg or capsizing in a fierce storm has been totally unknown until now.

The environmental record of nuclear reactors at sea is surprisingly good. The United States and Russia both employed fleets of nuclear powered submarines without incident. In fact, the Russian sub Kursk suffered an explosion and sank without causing appreciable damage to its reactor. Specialists suggest that the reactor could have been immediately restarted after the disaster.

Nuclear powered icebreakers have also been forging northern sea lanes for years without iceberg troubles.

But the Russian government is likely to move ahead anyway. Look for heavily government influenced companies like Gazprom to be peddling floating nuclear power stations to India and other countries within just a few years.