Akademik Lomonosov
Summary
Akademik Lomonosov is the world's first operating floating nuclear power plant, owned by Russian state nuclear operator Rosatom and operating in the port of Pevek, Chukotka (Russian Far East). She is not a conventional ship — she is a non-self-propelled floating nuclear power plant towed to her permanent berth in 2019. The vessel houses two KLT-40S reactors generating 70 MW of electricity for the remote Chukotka grid, plus heating for Pevek town. Construction began at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg in 2007.
Crew perspective
Akademik Lomonosov is not crewed in the conventional shipping sense — she has a Rosatom nuclear-plant operating crew (reactor operators, electricians, mechanics) rather than merchant marine officers. The classification is industrial / floating-infrastructure rather than commercial vessel. International seafarers are unlikely to encounter direct service on this ship, but the engineering precedent (floating nuclear) influences ongoing discussions about LNG bunker barges, ammonia-bunker vessels, and floating-storage-regasification units.
Sister ships
None to date; future Russian floating nuclear plants planned
See also
- · Wikipedia article — the source of many facts in this spotlight.
- · Other spotlights