The Northern Sea Route is to be cleaned up from the last 58 radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) by 2015.
“In 2012 we dismantled 44 RTGs, and only 58 objects are left from the total amount of 338. We will continue this work”, says vise Minister of Transport Victor Olerskiy.
Simultaneously with dismantling works Russia replaces the RTGs with renewable sources of energy: solar panels, wind turbines, as well as last generation accumulator batteries.
According to Olerskiy, it is required by strict environmental rules, and must assist safe navigation along the Northern Sea Route, b-port reports.
“We have already installed more than 100 units of navigation equipment, operating on alternative sources of energy”, says the vise Minister of transport.
RTGs are radioactive sources of energy used in remote areas for powering navigation beacons and lighthouses. Powered by strontium-90 and scattered mostly along Russia’s northern and eastern coasts. TRGs life time period can last up to 30 years, and then the equipment must be dismantled and decommissioned.
The Kola Peninsula, White Sea region, Kamchatka and Russian Baltic have already been cleaned up from the RTGs.
