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Russia is pressing ahead with a whole new form of gas transport, unveiling designs for nuclear-powered submarines to ferry LNG from the Arctic to Asia.
The Kurchatov Institute, Russia’s leading research and development institution in the field of nuclear energy, is working with energy giant Gazprom to build the underwater gas carriers, with delegates attending last week’s Offshore Marintec Russia 2024 expo given a sneak peak of the design.
The project is designed to overcome the months where gas carriers cannot transit the Arctic due to ice coverage.
“The creation of underwater nuclear-powered gas carriers has been discussed for a long time, since the early 2000s. Now we have started designing with Gazprom, this work will move forward,” said Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of the nuclear research institute.
Local media claimed the giant 360 m long submarines would be able to carry 180,000 tons of LNG. The 70 m wide vessels would feature RITM-200 nuclear reactors, which Russia uses to power its newest icebreakers.
Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 facility started production of seaborne LNG last December. However, exports have been plagued with problems.
