OREANDA-NEWS. September 18, 2009. Murmansk has welcomed the participants in the expedition held by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in the framework of the Arktika 2009 program with the support of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation.

The well-known explorer of the Arctic region, the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for international cooperation in the Arctic region Artur Chilingarov came to Murmansk to meet the crew of “Yamal,” nuclear icebreaker that has evacuated the North Pole 36 and disembarked the North Pole 37 drift stations.

During a press-conference Chilingarov said: “Now that the Russian nuclear icebreaking fleet has been placed under the management of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Atomflot is successfully implementing strategic national tasks.”

This is not the first voyage Yamal has made this year under exploratory projects in the Arctic region. Earlier in the year the ship carried an expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute to Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. The expedition studied the state of the ice cover in the area on the request of Gazprom and other companies developing Shtokman gas condensate deposit.

Atomflot is also implementing other projects in the region. The transit navigation via the Northern Sea Route has been resumed. Two German ships accompanied by “50 Years of Victory” and “Russia” nuclear icebreakers have delivered equipment for Surgut GRES. “50 Years of Victory” led them in the eastern part of the Arctic region to the port of Pevek, while “Russia” “took up the torch” in Vilkitsky strait, one of the most difficult sections of the Northern Sea Route. As a result, the cargo was successfully shipped to the port of Yamburg.