Russia is planning to exploit Arctic oil and gas reserves with the aid of a fleet of floating and submersible nuclear power stations. A prototype is currently being constructed at the SevMash shipyard in Severodvinsk and is scheduled to be ready for use in 2010. Four similar ones are also planned to be built in the near future, according to an agreement between the northern Siberian republic Yakutiya and Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation.

Each 70-megawatt plant will consist of two reactors placed on giant steel platforms. The floating power stations will be self-propelled and store both fuel and waste. The generated power will be used by Gazprom to power drills needed to exploit oil and gas fields in the world in the Barents and Kara seas. The oil- and natural gas company Gazprom is currently Russia’s largest company and it employs a large number of Russians.

In addition to the power stations, engineers have also developed submarine nuclear-powered drilling rigs powerful enough to drill eight wells at a time.

The new about Russia’s intentions have alarmed environmental watchdog groups around the world who fear the Arctic will become even more polluted if firms try to exploit these oil and gas reserves.

According to Bellona, a leading Scandinavian environmental watchdog group, the risk of nuclear accidents in the Arctic is also high.

“It is highly risky. The risk of a nuclear accident on a floating power plant is increased. The plants’ potential impact on the fragile Arctic environment through emissions of radioactivity and heat remains a major concern. If there is an accident, it would be impossible to handle,” said Bellona spokesman Igor Kudrik.

Russia claims that all radioactive waste will be stored on the platforms, but this country has a long record of polluting the Arctic with radioactive waste and environmentalists fear that Russia will continue this practise. Countries such as Britain have had to pay Russia billions of dollars to decommission around 160 Russian nuclear submarines, and at least 12 nuclear reactors have been dumped despite this. Russia has also dumped 5,000 containers of solid and liquid nuclear waste on the northern coast and on the island of Novaya Zemlya.

According to a new report from the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum, and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Russia is also considering building nuclear plants to power settlements in northern and eastern Russia. “The locations that have been discussed include 33 towns in the Russian far north and far east. Such plants could be also used to supply energy for oil and gas extraction,” says the report.

Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest lake and the world’s largest tropical lake, has long been plighted by environmental problems caused by pollution and exotic species being introduced to the lake. On of the most well know of these problems was the introduction of Nile perch to the lake; a large predatory fish that all but wiped out the lakes wide variety of native, endemic species.

Moses Kabuusu, Member of Parliament for Kyamuswa country in Kalangala district, has now expressed concerns about another problem developing in the area. According to him the amount of fish in the lake has now become so low that crocodiles are increasingly looking at humans as food. The number of croc attacks on humans has indeed increased in Kalangala, but it is hard to tell whether this is due to less fish being present or if there are other reasons that have increased the number of attacks on humans.

Kabuusu warns people about spending time in the water due to the rampant problem of humans being eaten by crocodiles and adds that it is mostly people swimming in the lake and women getting water in the lake that are being hunted by crocodiles.

He has requested help by the Uganda Wild Authority.

Lake victoria beach.