"Chinese officials have halted plans to build a floating nuclear reactor over concerns that it could be attacked … The plant was designed to generate electricity for remote islands and critical marine infrastructure. …
Chinese regulators are reportedly concerned that a nuclear reactor at sea could not be sufficiently protected and could come under attack, leading to serious environmental and geopolitical consequences. … Such fears reportedly escalated following last year’s bombing of Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, a Beijing-based researcher, who is not directly involved in the project, told the SCMP. He noted that, while no country has taken responsibility for the attack, “there is a popular belief that the United States is behind this.” …
… there is a growing concern in Beijing that Washington would attack Chinese infrastructure in the South China Sea. Chinese officials are reportedly also concerned that if such an attack took place, it would be difficult to reliably identify the culprits, making retaliation more challenging."
Russia has been pursuing floating nuclear power stations to provide electricity and heat to isolated settlements, such as those on the Arctic coast. The first power ship, Akademik Lomonosov, was launched in 2010, and began operation in December 2019, being fully commissioned in May 2020. The ship, which has no propulsion of its own, was towed into position by an icebreaker. Power is generated by two KLT-40S reactors, which are based upon the reactors developed for nuclear powered icebreakers. Together, the reactors provide 300 megawatts of thermal power, generating 70 megawatts of electrical power. Running in co-generation mode, the reactors can deliver 170 megawatts of thermal power and 30 megawatts of electric power. As a by-product, the reactors produce 240,000 litres per day of fresh water from desalination of seawater. The reactors use low-enriched (14.1%) uranium, with an interval of 3 years between refuellings.
Presumably, Russia is not as concerned with security of reactors located entirely within its territory in difficult-to-access regions.
Or perhaps it is simply that Russia built its floating nuclear power plants in that happy era before the Biden* Administration’s unacknowledged destruction of Germany’s gas import pipelines – a time when no-one expected sophisticated costly attacks on a nation’s vital infrastructure outside of war-time?
Since US nuclear submarines operate under the Arctic Ocean, presumably it would be as feasible for Biden* to order the destruction of a floating nuclear power plant on Russia’s north coast as it was to order the destruction of the NordStream pipelines. And without leaving any way to “reliably identify the culprits”.
Of course, every country is dependent on hard-to-defend infrastructure. Think of Europe’s heavy reliance on undersea gas & oil pipelines and undersea electric cables & fiber optic cables. Presumably China is not the only country to recognize a vulnerability – and alter course accordingly. The long-term consequence of the Biden* attack on the NordStream pipelines may be that many other projects around the world which would have benefitted humanity will now not proceed.