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.