Fincantieri Launches Nuclear Waste Vessel for Russia

Itarus, the new semisubmersible floating platform built to transport Russia’s nuclear materials, was launched at a ceremony on November 19 at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Muggiano, La Spezia.

Built by Fincantieri for the Russian RosRAO, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise for radioactive waste management, the vessel will be used for the transportation of nuclear submarine reactor compartments decommissioned by the Russian Navy from the storage area of Sayda Bay to the Nerpa Shipyard (and vice-versa), facing the Kola Peninsula in the Barents Sea.

Measuring just over 79 meters long and about 29 meters wide with a deadweight capacity of 3,000 metric tons, the vessel’s maximum draught is 24.5 meters, achievable during the cargo docking, by means of 45 ballast tanks for a total capacity of 25,000 cubic meters of ballast water, fed by four pumps of 2,000 cubic meters per hour capacity. The vessel will be equipped with living areas, to host a crew of six on board.

Itarus was constructed in the Integrated Shipyard of Riva Trigoso and Muggiano with the support of the facility of Palermo, supervised by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.

The contract to build the unit was signed by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, RosRAO (the Russian Federation national nuclear corporation) and Fincantieri in November 2013 during the Italy-Russia Business Forum in Trieste. It follows the 2003 cooperation agreement between the Russian and Italian government for the decommissioning of nuclear submarines and the safe management of radioactive waste and nuclear fuel, defined within the framework of the Global Partnership, started in the 2002 G8 summit in Canada.

Itarus’ godmother is Rosaria Fausta Romano, General Director of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development’s department for the electricity market, renewables and energy efficiency, nuclear. Other attendees at the launching ceremony included, among others, by Angelo Fusco, Fincantieri’s Senior Vice President Italy Naval Vessels Business Unit; as well as Oleg Kryukov, Rosatom’s Director for Public Policy on Radioactive Waste, Spent Nuclear Fuel and Nuclear Decommissioning.