OREANDA-NEWS. October 25, 2010. As Deputy Head of Rosatomflot External Affairs Department Vladimir Blinov reported to the journalists on Wednesday, Italian specialists had set about installation of equipment at the new vessel being constructed at Muggiano shipyard of Fincantieri, the engine had been already installed, and hull and superstructure works had been completed.

“Construction of a specialized vessel for transportation of spent fuel is coming nearer the end. The construction was commenced according to the intergovernmental agreement of 2003 between Russia and Italy for cooperation in dismantlement of nuclear-powered submarines decommissioned from the Navy and safe RAW and SNF handling,” Blinov reported.

According to him, the hull and superstructure have been already constructed, the engines installed, the shafts aligned. Now the equipment is being installed including the radiation-monitoring system that meets all the up-to-date requirements.

“Due to its compact size — length — 84 meters, width -14, draft — 4 meters — the vessel can fetch into any port of the northern coast of Kola peninsula where it’ll be used,” Blinov added.

The vessel will deliver spent fuel and radioactive waste from coastal storage bases at Andreeva Bay and in Gremikha located on the coast of the Barents Sea to Rosatomflot base.

The Italian specialists are working on the project developed by engineers of Vympel OJSC, Nizhny Novgorod. The construction is being carried out under the supervision of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.

According to Rosatomflot data, the launching is planned for the beginning of December in the Italian city of La Spezia. The customer is Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Federal Centre of Nuclear and Radiation Safety”, but it’ll be operated by Rosatomflot, an enterprise of Rosatom State Corporation.