Energoflot Murmansk, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, is currently conducting a bidding process to select a contractor to build a specialized shipyard near Murmansk, Russia, for the outfitting and dry-docking of floating nuclear power plants.
Based on information from RosBusinessConsulting (RBC), the new yard will be located north of Atomflot, the current base for Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, and will include drydocking facilities specifically designed for floating nuclear power plants. Construction is expected to begin in 2027. The tender documents indicate that the construction cost is estimated at 65 billion rubles (approximately 700 million euros). The scope of the tender covers site preparation, equipment installation, commissioning of utility systems, and the construction of supporting on-site roads and dedicated rail lines.
According to reports, Russia currently lacks dedicated shipyards for the maintenance of its growing fleet of floating nuclear power plants. The country’s first such plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, has been in operation in Pevek, Eastern Siberia, since 2020. A second unit, featuring a larger reactor, is currently undergoing outfitting at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, while three additional floating nuclear power plants are in the planning stages, with their hulls set to be constructed in China.
As planned, all power-generating equipment—including the reactors—for Russia’s second floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) and three subsequent planned units will be installed within Russian territory. Ultimately, all four FNPPs will be deployed to Pevek to provide power for the Baimskoye copper-gold mining and processing complex, which is currently under development approximately 400 kilometers from the coast. As existing shipyards along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) lack the capacity to accommodate such large-scale infrastructure, the port of Murmansk—with its well-developed port facilities and rail connections—serves as an ideal location for the new shipyard.
For Rosatom, floating nuclear power plants are more than just a solution to meet domestic energy demand in Russia’s Arctic region. For years, Russia has been promoting this technology to potential customers in Asia and Africa. In mid-April, the group’s CEO, Alexey Likhachev, stated: “Negotiations for a floating nuclear power plant project in Indonesia have reached the final stage.”
Meanwhile, Russia is also in discussions with several other countries—including Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia, and Cuba—regarding potential export projects. To date, however, Rosatom has not secured any orders from abroad for the construction of floating nuclear power plants.