Newswire : Floating power

Russians will be using electricity generated by a floating nuclear power
station sooner than expected. In recent months, officials have been discussing
plans to build a ship to supply Pevek in eastern Siberia with electricity
beginning in 2001 (This Week, 4 October, p 22). Now the defence ministry has
given permission to convert the Ural, a nuclear-powered research and survey
vessel, to supply 25 megawatts of power to coastal areas in Russia’s far eastern
territories from late 1998.