Floating NPPs pose proliferation risk
The environmental group Bellona says Russia has not taken into consideration the enormous nuclear proliferation risks posed by placing floating nuclear power plants (FNPP) in remote Arctic areas.
The planned floating nuclear power plants use highly enriched uranium fuel to operate.
- This makes FNPP fuel an even more attractive acquisition for potential nuclear terrorists than fuel for land based reactors. Higher enrichment means less work to build a full-fledged nuclear device, Bellona argues.
BarentsObserver reported earlier this week that Rosatom and the Republic of Yakutia signed an agreement for implementing investments to build four floating nuclear power plants for use in the northern coastal areas of the Siberian Republic.
Refueling the plants urainium fuel would involve towing them hundreds of kilometers back to the Murmansk or Arkangesk regions, as would any scheduled or unscheduled maintenance.
Bellona believes the technology is far too dangerous to put into use.
- At present, Russia lacks the infrastructure to deal with any emergencies that might occur at one of these far-flung plants. Neither have authorities drawn up any suitable plan for transporting or disposing of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from these remote reactors, and is disregarding the proliferation risks associated with isolated, largely unguarded reactors that require by their design more highly enriched uranium fuel to operate, says Bellona.
