Baltic Shipyard to build nuclear service ship for Russia's Atomflot by 2030

ST. PETERSBURG. May 25 (Interfax) - The Baltic Shipyard, a unit of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), and Atomflot have signed a contract for building a multifunctional nuclear service ship, the USC press service said in a statement.

Acting Atomflot General Director Leonid Irlitsa and Baltic Shipyard General Director Yury Gordiyenkov signed the document.

A Russian government resolution designated the Baltic Shipyard as the sole executor of the state contract for building a multifunctional nuclear service ship of Project 22770. The ship is tasked with recharging reactors of operating nuclear icebreakers and the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear heat and power plant and eventually, upgraded floating power plants.

The Russian budget will finance 50% of the project expenses, and the investment program of the Rosatom state corporation will contribute the other half. The contract value is not disclosed.

"The construction is envisaged by the Northern Sea Route development plan for the period until 2025, which is approved by a Russian government resolution. The commissioning is due in 2029," the USC press service quoted Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Yevtukhov as saying.

"A nuclear service ship of Project 22770 is an important element of Rosatomflot infrastructure. The ship will have multiple tasks, such as recharging nuclear icebreaker reactors and storage of fresh and spent nuclear fuel," the press service quoted Irlitsa as saying.

The ship has a length of 158.8 meters, a width of 26 meters, a displacement of 22,600 tonnes, a reactor capacity of 9.28 MW, and a speed of 12 knots.

Earlier, Irlitsa said that Atomflot was expecting to get the new nuclear service ship of Project 22770 in 2028. He described the construction of this ship as a key objective of Atomflot. Its late commissioning may "slow down the development of icebreakers," as they will come to a halt after they spend their fuel, he said. For now, the Imandra mothership recharges reactors of nuclear icebreakers of the previous generations. Atomflot believes it will be unable to service new capacities of the Russian icebreaker fleet.

As reported earlier, Atomflot planned to sign a contract for building the nuclear service ship by the end of 2022. The construction was due to begin in fall 2024 and the ship was supposed to be launched by 2027.