The last radioactive lighthouses get solar technology
The last five strontium-fuelled lighthouses along the Barents Sea coast are now being replaced with solar technology. All together, 153 of the radioactive lighthouses have been removed as part of a Russian-Norwegian project.
Since year 2000, Murmansk regional authorities have together with the Norwegian Finnmark county governor removed all the radioactive lighthouses (RITEGs) from the Russian Barents Sea coast. As many as 85 of the lighthouses were located in Murmansk Oblast, while 68 of them were in Arkhangelsk Oblast. With the removal of the lighthouses, the two Russian regions have got rid of a potentially dangerous source of radiation, a possible terrorist threat. All the 153 lighthouses have been sent to the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant outside Chelyabinsk in Western Siberia. Norway has funded the replacement of the strontium lighthouses with solar-cell installations.
