Nuclear plants have faced heavy scrutiny since the Chernobyl accident in 1986 forced the evacuation of an entire city and caused widespread contamination across Europe.
In 2018, Jan Haverkamp, a nuclear-energy expert at the environmental nonprofit Greenpeace, published a blog post that referred to the floating plant as "Chernobyl on ice."
"You cannot compare the force that came out of Chernobyl with what could come out here, but what you can compare is the attitude that was shown during the construction of this floating nuclear power station," he told Business Insider. "Rosatom has done its very best to keep independent oversight at arm's length during the entire construction phase. That is a recipe for catastrophe."