Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA — The U.N. recently signed a deal with the Korean port city of Busan to build the world’s first floating city on Busan’s coastline. Here are the details:
Business Insider reports that a historic deal was signed on Thursday, November 18 to build the world’s first ever floating city on the coast of South Korea.
The South Korean city of Busan agreed to host such a floating city with the backing of the UN Human Settlement Program and Oceanix, the company that designed the floating city.
Like many coastal cities, Busan is threatened by rising sea levels, and the floating city is designed to help such cities to expand onto the sea.
The city will be based on a collection of hexagonal platforms that float on the water.
These platforms will be strengthened by a limestone coating that’s more than twice as hard as concrete while also being buoyant.
The city is designed to survive Category 5 hurricanes.
It would also be flood proof as it is designed to rise with the sea. The floating city would produce its own food, energy and freshwater.
Cages underneath the platforms could be used to house scallops, kelp or other forms of seafood, while aquaponic systems could use waste from fish to fertilize plants.
The next step will be for Oceanix and the UN to work with Busan’s officials to fine-tune the final design of the floating habitat.
Oceanix says the whole process would take a total of three years, so it expects to see the prototype in the water by 2025.
SOURCES: Business Insider, Global Construction Review, Oceanixcity.com
businessinsider.com/floating-city-united-nations-south-korea-2021-11
oceanixcity.com
globalconstructionreview.com/south-korea-plans-to-host-worlds-first-floating-city-by-2025
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA — The U.N. recently signed a deal with the Korean port city of Busan to build the world’s first floating city on Busan’s coastline. Here are the details:
Business Insider reports that a historic deal was signed on Thursday, November 18 to build the world’s first ever floating city on the coast of South Korea.
The South Korean city of Busan agreed to host such a floating city with the backing of the UN Human Settlement Program and Oceanix, the company that designed the floating city.
Like many coastal cities, Busan is threatened by rising sea levels, and the floating city is designed to help such cities to expand onto the sea.
The city will be based on a collection of hexagonal platforms that float on the water.
These platforms will be strengthened by a limestone coating that’s more than twice as hard as concrete while also being buoyant.
The city is designed to survive Category 5 hurricanes.
It would also be flood proof as it is designed to rise with the sea. The floating city would produce its own food, energy and freshwater.
Cages underneath the platforms could be used to house scallops, kelp or other forms of seafood, while aquaponic systems could use waste from fish to fertilize plants.
The next step will be for Oceanix and the UN to work with Busan’s officials to fine-tune the final design of the floating habitat.
Oceanix says the whole process would take a total of three years, so it expects to see the prototype in the water by 2025.
SOURCES: Business Insider, Global Construction Review, Oceanixcity.com
businessinsider.com/floating-city-united-nations-south-korea-2021-11
oceanixcity.com
globalconstructionreview.com/south-korea-plans-to-host-worlds-first-floating-city-by-2025



![Russia Takes Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in ‘Fierce Battle’
CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE — The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency says it is ‘closely monitoring’ developments at nuclear-related facilities in Ukraine after Russian forces captured the Chernobyl nuclear plant after a fierce battle with Ukrainian national guards protecting the decommissioned site on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera.
Infamously, Reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl exploded on April 26, 1986. The subsequent fire that demolished the reactor building released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Citing the official website of the site’s operator, Reuters explains that nuclear waste management and storage remain ongoing at the site, while New Scientist reported a surge in fission reactions around the destroyed nuclear reactor in May last year.
The situation now according to nuclear scientists who spoke to New Scientist both directly before the attack and after is that the risk of nuclear material being released from the decaying reactor as a result of the conflict is low, with one researcher who monitors the ongoing emission of neutrons from the reactor explaining that staff at Chernobyl were safe. “The entrance of [Chernobyl is] controlled by Russians. They do not enter inside,” he said.
Bruno Merk at the University of Liverpool meanwhile concluded: “I think as long as there is not a deliberate attack the risk is comparably low,” though he added: “If it’s a deliberate act, you could possibly do it.”
Closest to the situation itself, Chernobyl scientist who worked on confinement plans at the site told New Scientist on February 22 that monitoring work would continue and that all safety systems at the plant are working well, but that scientific data processing has been partially suspended.
In terms of the wider Russian invasion of Ukraine, NBC News reports that the Chernobyl is most likely valuable because of its location, sitting on one of the most direct routes to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as Russian troops look to push through the country. “They want it because they want to take control of the whole effing country,” according to Evelyn Farkas, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia for the Obama administration. “They want to surround the capital.”
SOURCES: IAEA, Reuters, Yahoo News, Al Jazeera, New Scientist, NBC
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-director-general-statement-on-the-situation-in-ukraine
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/chernobyl-power-plant-captured-by-russian-forces-ukrainian-official-2022-02-24/
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iaea-says-ukraine-power-plants-running-safely-no-destruction-chernobyl-2022-02-24/
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/war-comes-to-chernobyl-raising-nuclear-fears-in-russia-invasion-of-ukraine-170528013.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/chernobyl-nuclear-plant-targeted-as-russia-invades-ukraine
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2309599-risk-of-nuclear-disaster-is-minimal-as-russian-forces-reach-chernobyl/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2277195-nuclear-reactions-at-chernobyl-are-spiking-in-an-inaccessible-chamber/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/russia-want-take-chernobyl-rcna17615 Russia Takes Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in ‘Fierce Battle’](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yHBjsy84yV4/mqdefault.jpg)



