As the Vedomosti newspaper reported in [...] Maria Pashenkova's article "The cost of building the Vladimir Vorobyov vessel has risen to 52.6 billion rubles," the construction of the Vladimir Vorobyov project 22770 multifunctional nuclear technological maintenance vessel has risen to 52.6 billion rubles. This follows from the updated Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 7, 2023 No. 267-R. At the start of construction, investments in the project were estimated at 24.8 billion rubles.
The laying board of the Vladimir Vorobyov multifunctional nuclear technological maintenance vessel (MSATO) (construction number 05719) of project 22770, which is being built at JSC Baltiyskiy Zavod (part of USC) in St. Petersburg for FSUE Rosatomflot (c) sudostroenie.info
"The proposal to review the cost of the construction of the MSATO was supported by Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation," a representative of FSUE Atomflot (part of Rosatom State Corporation) told the newspaper, adding that the main reasons are related to macroeconomic circumstances and were determined after an independent feasibility study of the calculations.
Atomflot and St. Petersburg-based Baltiyskiy Zavod JSC signed a contract for the construction of the MSATO in 2023. The laying took place in December 2024. The ceremony took place on the Baltic Shipyard's slipway in St. Petersburg, which is building the vessel.
Earlier, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation reported that the construction is expected to be financed according to the scheme: 50% from the budget of the Russian Federation and 50% from the investment program of the State Corporation Rosatom. The representative of Atomflot confirmed to the publication that the financing of the project on parity terms, initially approved by the government of the Russian Federation, remains.
The vessel will become part of FSUE Atomflot and will carry out a full range of work on recharging nuclear power plants of universal nuclear icebreakers and the main nuclear icebreaker Rossiya project 10510. "Construction is expected to be completed in September 2029," the Director of the Commercial Department of FSUE Atomflot (part of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation) said during the conference "Technological Development of Industrial Projects in the North" Andrey Makarov.
An Atomflot representative confirmed to the publication that the date of commissioning of the nuclear technology maintenance vessel remains unchanged. The creation of the vessel is necessary to maintain the full cycle of operation and technological maintenance of the nuclear icebreaker fleet. Currently, the company owns three specialized vessels: the Imandra floating technical base, the Serebryanka motor ship, and the Rossita multifunctional container ship.
The creation of the MSATO is necessary for the recharging of new icebreakers and floating structures with nuclear power plants. Among the latter are the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant and the upgraded floating power unit of Project 20781 (MPEB) with phased commissioning from 2027 to 2031.
MSATO will provide unloading of spent nuclear fuel from ship reactor facilities; loading of fresh nuclear fuel; aging of spent fuel assemblies in order to reduce residual heat generation and a number of other technological operations.
There are currently four newest nuclear icebreakers in the current group: "Arctic", "Siberia", "Ural" and "Yakutia" of project 22220. Three more are planned to be commissioned in the next five years: Chukotka (2026), Leningrad (2028), and Stalingrad (2030). In 2030, Russia's domestic icebreaking fleet will also be replenished with a vessel of the Leader Rossiya project, which will become the largest and most powerful in the world.. For comparison, if the current icebreaker of the previous generation "50 years of Victory" has a capacity of 55 MW and an ice penetration of up to 2.8 m, then the icebreakers of project 22220 will have 60 MW and up to 3 m, and the indicators of "Russia" will be 120 MW and 4.3 m. At the same time, Atomflot predicts a shortage of icebreaking support for the Northern Sea Route projects.
Experts interviewed by the publication note significant prospects for the construction and operation of new nuclear technology service vessels, but at the same time a large amount of costs for such projects. Alexander Vorotnikov, coordinator of the Expert Council of the Arctic Development Project Office, explained that Imandra currently performs the functions of the MSATO, but it has been operating for many years and requires a transition to a more modern vessel with advanced capabilities capable of servicing nuclear icebreakers at all stages of their operation. The expert cites several reasons for the project's rise in price.
"First of all, production itself is becoming more expensive, this is due to an increase in overhead costs. The cost of raw materials is increasing, the products of other enterprises are becoming more expensive, and it is necessary to raise salaries for employees. In addition, we are talking about new products, and when working with new projects, unforeseen situations always arise," added Vorotnikov.
Artyom Petrov, a marine engineer and senior lecturer at the Department of Marine Power Plants and Ship Repair at Murmansk Arctic University, noted that the infrastructure for servicing ships with nuclear installations has historically lagged behind the pace of construction. Nuclear technology service vessels determine the icebreaker fleet's real ability to accomplish its assigned task. The need for them is growing in direct proportion to the scale of Arctic exploration.
"The new vessel is equipped with a diesel power plant, has an unlimited navigation area and is capable of operating in all Arctic seas: from the Barents and White Seas to the Chukchi and Bering Seas. This will allow servicing not only the current fleet, but also those under construction, ensuring a continuous technological cycle directly in the areas of operation," said Artem Petrov.
Alexey Fadeev, Chairman of the Expert Council on the Development of the Russian Arctic under the Committee on External Relations of St. Petersburg, Director of Work with Key Partners at the Institute of Oil and Gas Technological Initiatives, draws attention to the important issue of import substitution in the development of Arctic projects, which also concerns shipbuilding. According to Rosatom, by 2030-2035, Russia's demand in the Arctic will amount to at least 75-80 ice-class vessels.: These are the atomic group of icebreakers, support vessels, tankers and gas carriers of the Alexei Kosygin type. "It can be observed that import substitution is often ahead of schedule. But still, if we talk about shipbuilding, the process cannot be called easy. The timing of some projects can be expected to shift to the right," says Fadeev.
On the part of bmpd, we recall that Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 4321-r dated December 29, 2022 prescribed the implementation of budget investments in 2023-2029 at the expense of budget allocations from the federal budget for the construction of a lead multifunctional nuclear technology service vessel with a deadline for commissioning in 2029 (capacity to be commissioned, - 9.28 megawatts). The total cost of the vessel was estimated at 24.798475 billion rubles, and the amount of budget investments in its construction during the specified period was 12.3992375 billion rubles.
The new multifunctional nuclear technological maintenance vessel (MSATO) of project 22770 is to replace the Imandra nuclear technological maintenance vessel in operation of project 1948 (in service since 1980) and is designed to perform a full range of work on recharging nuclear power plants of existing nuclear icebreakers, as well as the Akademik Lomonosov NPP (and in the future - upgraded floating power units). Iceberg Central Design Bureau completed the development of technical project 22770 in 2018 under a government contract signed with the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade worth 489.5 million rubles. In October 2022, FSUE Rosatomflot (an enterprise of the Rosatom State Corporation) awarded Iceberg Central Design Bureau an additional contract in the amount of 249.998 million rubles to adjust technical project 22770 by May 31, 2023 in order to "exclude foreign-made equipment from MSATO, the supply of which has currently been discontinued in the Russian Federation." The management of Rosatomflot stated that, taking into account the plans for the construction of floating nuclear power plants, the construction of three MSATOS of project 22770 will be required by 2035.
The contract for the construction of the MSATO project 22770 was signed on May 25, 2023 by FSUE Rosatomflot with JSC Baltiyskiy Zavod (St. Petersburg, part of the USC). The laying of the vessel, named Vladimir Vorobyov (construction number 05719), was carried out at JSC Baltiyskiy Zavod on December 20, 2024.
