Floating nuclear power stations for the Arctic? [View all]

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What could possibly go wrong?

Alaska Dispatch

An Ontario company is proposing the idea of small floating nuclear stations to power mining sites and towns in the Arctic.

At a mining symposium last week in the Arctic city of Iqaluit in Nunavut, Dunedin Energy Systems suggested the idea to meet growing energy needs in the North.

Currently Arctic towns, cities and various mine sites are powered by diesel generators. These produce substantial pollution and with fuel costs rising along with energy demand, alternatives are needed.

The company noted that the Russian firm OKBM is building a so-called FNPP -- floating nuclear power plant. The Akademik Lomonosov will have two modified naval propulsion reactors producing a peak total of 70 megawatts of electricity or 300 megawatts of heat.

For comparison, the diesel plant at Agnico Eagle Mining Ltd.’s Meadowbank gold mine in Nunavut has a generating capacity of 26 megawatts, and the City of Iqaluit’s power plant has a capacity of about 12 MW, Lang said.

The Russian ship is expected to be delivered to the Siberian port of Pevek, a town of 4,000, in 2016.

Some 15 countries around the world have expressed interest in leasing a Russian FNPP, according to a website called Nuclear Threat Initiative.

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http://www.adn.com/article/20150422/floating-nuclear-power-stations-arctic