The media has called the Russian floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov a “Floating Chernobyl” and a “Nuclear Titanic.” Is this just headline hyperbole? Or, is the barge-mounted 70-megawatt nuclear reactor a serious threat? It is hard to tell, which is scary in its own right. 

The floating reactor is currently on its way to Murmansk, a town in Northwest Russia, to be loaded with nuclear fuel. Once operational, the plant will be connected to the electrical grid in the Arctic town of Pevek in 2019. It will be the world’s northernmost nuclear reactor, capable of powering a town of 100,000 people. The reactor barge will be anchored at the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Arctic, northwest of Russia.  The almost 500-foot long Akademik Lomonosov has a displacement of around 21,500 tons.

Rosatom Corporation, which manufactured the floating reactor, says that the plant was built with “a great margin of safety” that is “invincible for tsunamis and natural disaster.” Critics disagree.  Jan Haverkamp, a nuclear expert for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe, called it a “shockingly obvious threat to a fragile environment.”

The Akademik Lomonosov project is a decade behind schedule and significantly over budget. If successful, however, Rosatom would like to export floating nuclear plants to nations in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The Russian government is reported to want to build another six floating reactors as well.

For better or worse, the Arctic is no stranger to nuclear power. Both the US and Russians operate nuclear-powered vessels in the region. The World Nuclear Association reports that over 140 ships are powered by more than 180 small nuclear reactors and more than 12,000 reactor years of marine operation has been accumulated.