by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 29/97) - Russia is setting its sights on a new nuclear frontier: a floating fission reactor in the Arctic.

And the plan, which has already received draft approval in Russia, is worrying environmentalists who fear a catastrophic accident involving the reactor could contaminate the entire polar region.

"I think it is a very bad idea," said Kevin Jardine, a spokesman for the environmental organization Greenpeace. "If there was a problem, it's so remote that it would be very difficult to repair it."

The plant, if built, would be powered by a nuclear reactor from a Russian submarine. A nuclear-powered drilling rig, which would also operate off Russia's north coast, is another proposed use for the mothballed nuclear reactors, Jardine said.

"To a certain degree this is a make-work project for Russia's military," he said, noting that the country has little use for its floating nuclear arsenal since the end of the cold war and the partition of the former USSR into a number of smaller, autonomous regions.

Russian plans call for the reactor to be floated off the northern coast of Siberia and towed to the western part of Russia for occasional refuelling and maintenance.

The idea is so alarming to Jardine that he hopes it will become an issue which is debated in the North and pressure brought to bear on Russia to stop the project through such groups as the pan-national Arctic Council, a new body made up of eight countries which surround the North Poles, including Canada.

The Arctic Council is scheduled to meet next month in Yellowknife with Canada serving as chair.