MURMANSK: Russia on Saturday unveiled the world´s first floating nuclearpower station at a ceremony in the port of the far northern city ofMurmansk where it will be loaded with nuclear fuel before heading toeastern Siberia.

Built in Saint Petersburg, the Akademik Lomonosov arrived in Murmansk onThursday where it was moored in the port and presented to the media onSaturday.

Constructed by the state nuclear power firm Rosatom, the 144 by 30 metre(472 by 98 foot) ship holds two reactors with two 35 megawatt nuclearreactors that are similar to those used to power icebreaker ships.

The 21,000-tonne barge will be towed in the summer of 2019 to the port ofPevek in the autonomous Chukotka region in Russia´s extreme northeast, 350kilometres (217 miles) north of the Arctic Circle.

The barge can produce enough electricity to power a town of 200,000residents, far more than the 5,000 live in Pevek, Russia´s northernmosttown.

It will be primarily used to power oil rigs as Russia pushes further northinto the Arctic to drill for oil and gas and needs electricity in far-flunglocations.

Vitaly Trutnev, who is in charge of the construction and operation offloating nuclear power stations at Rosatom, said such units would “supplyelectricity and heat to the most remote regions, supporting also growth andsustainable development.”

He said the use of such floating reactors can save 50,000 tonnes of carbondioxide emissions per year.

The barge had initially been scheduled to be fuelled in Saint Petersburg,but that work was moved to Murmansk instead due to concern in countriesalong the Baltic Sea. – APP/AFP