‘IT IS NOT JUST A NUCLEAR RISK,BUT A THREAT TO CLIMATE’

M V Ramana,Simons Chair in Disarmament,Global and Human Security and director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, says Russia will use the risky nuclear reactor to exploit fossil fuels in the Arctic

What are the critical issues with Akademik Lomonosov?

There are two sets of issues. The first is that like all nuclear reactors,the KLT-40S reactors on the Akademik Lomonosov are prone to accidents.The second problem is that the barge and the reactors will be deployed in a very cold and remote area that is not easily accessible.So if there is an accident,trying to evacuate local people and containing the radioactive releases will be very difficult.

I am also worried that the deployment of the Akademik Lomonosov is part of Russia’s plans to exploit Arctic oil and gas and that will contribute to increased carbon dioxide emissions.In other words, even if the nuclear reactors themselves do not emit carbon dioxide,they are being deployed in the service of the fossil fuel industry.

Russia plans to sell the technology to other countries. Why are countries so interested in this technology?

While Russian organisations are definitely interested in selling such plants,I do not think there is any real interest on the part of potential buyers. Many developing countries talk about acquiring nuclear power plants of all kinds, but if and when they get to the stage of actually calculating how much it costs,they stop proceeding with these ideas. A good example is Indonesia, which has explored the idea of buying a floating power plant from Russia.But it never moved past the stage of talking.

Nuclear submarines have been around for a while now.What has been the experience so far?

Nuclear submarines have been prone to a wide variety of accidents.Based on the information available publicly, nuclear-powered submarines have experienced 45 accidents,killing at least 669. Russia (or the Soviet Union) takes the lead in terms of the number of accidents,26 in all causing 429 deaths.The US had 12 accidents killing 238.