Russia's first floating nuclear power plant set sail on Friday from the Arctic port of Murmansk to provide power to one of the country's most remote regions, sparking environmental concerns. Developed by the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, the plant, known as "Akademik Lomonosov," set off on a 5,000 kilometer (3,100 mile) journey through Arctic waters to reach the Chukotka region, which lies across the Bering Strait from Alaska.

And so it begins pic.twitter.com/90IVAEGIFA — Matthew Bodner (@mattb0401) August 23, 2019

The plant, loaded with nuclear fuel, will replace a coal-fired power plant and an aging nuclear power plant supplying more than 50,000 people with electricity in the town of Pevek. Rosatom says the plant is safe and can serve as a new power source for the planet's most isolated communities, but environmentalists have voiced concerns over the risk of nuclear accidents. Greenpeace has called it the "nuclear Titanic." "We think that a floating nuclear power plant is an excessively risky and costly way of obtaining energy," Rashid Alimov of Greenpeace Russia said. He added the unit had not been built with the purpose of fulfilling the energy needs of Chukotka, but rather to serve as a model for potential foreign buyers.