Kovalchuk called the development of shipbuilding technologies a priority

President of the National Research Center (NRC) "Kurchatov Institute" Mikhail Kovalchuk said on Thursday, December 19, that the priority of work in the maritime industry is the development of new technologies for shipbuilding.

"Here we have set a scientific and technological priority at the council. The first and the most important is new technologies for shipbuilding, which are the basis of new universal nuclear-powered icebreakers, new deep-sea submersibles, nuclear-powered underwater gas carrier with nuclear installation," he said at a lecture titled "Russia's Arctic Vector" at the Peter the Great St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University.

Kovalchuk added that attention will also be paid to developing new Arctic materials, creating innovative nuclear power technologies for the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route and building infrastructure for settlements along it, since without developed coastal infrastructure all other achievements will be ineffective.

"Since the ecology there is fragile and difficult, nature is regenerating and very difficult to heal, the basis should be special technologies very gentle, nature-like. Well, and what is extremely important is the study and monitoring of underwater, radiation hazardous objects," he said.

The day before Kovalchuk spoke about the innovative shipbuilding technologies being introduced in the country. He noted the importance of creating infrastructure along the Northern Sea Route for effective use of new technologies and also mentioned the need to eliminate nuclear legacy in the Arctic, emphasizing Russia's world leadership in the field of nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet.