Kovalchuk spoke about innovative technologies of Russian shipbuilding

President of the National Research Center (NRC) "Kurchatov Institute" Mikhail Kovalchuk spoke at a meeting of the Russian Maritime Board on Wednesday, December 18, about innovative shipbuilding technologies being introduced in the country.

"Innovative new shipbuilding technologies, which include an icebreaker, deep-sea vehicles, a nuclear-powered gas carrier and a self-propelled ice-resistant platform with a nuclear power plant on board. The basis of these technologies is fundamentally new Arctic material science," he said.

Kovalchuk noted the importance of creating infrastructure along the Northern Sea Route for the effective use of new technologies. He also mentioned the need to eliminate nuclear legacy in the Arctic and emphasized Russia's world leadership in the nuclear icebreaker fleet.

The SIC President spoke about the commissioning of new 2220 series nuclear icebreakers, one of which is under construction in St. Petersburg.

He also spoke about the creation of a more powerful icebreaker "Leader", the need for which is due to the uneven thickness of ice in the Arctic.

"We have fully developed and Rosatom is mass producing the KLT 40 and RITM 200 icebreakers. Next we have the nuclear submarine fleet: the fourth generation we are now discussing and a new fifth generation. There is the world's only first floating nuclear power plant and new models, modernized there are afloat," he noted Russia's competitive advantage in this area.

Earlier, on October 10, Kovalchuk, answering the question of what advantage Russia has in having a modern icebreaker fleet, said that many countries of the world are seeking to "penetrate" the Arctic because they lack the resources that Russia has. The scientist reminded that about 25% of the world's hydrocarbon reserves are concentrated in the Arctic, so everyone is striving there "because there are no resources," he explained.