JSC Baltiysky Zavod (Baltic Plant), part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK – Obedinennoi Sudostroitelnoi Korporadii) has begun cutting metal for the multifunctional nuclear-technological service vessel (MSATO – Mnogofunktsionalnovo Sudna Atomno-Tekologicheskovo Obsluzhivaniya) of project 22770. Rosatomflot (part of Rosatom) and Baltiysky Zavod signed a contract for the construction of MSATO in May 2023. Baltiysky Zavod will be the sole executor of the contract.
MSATO project 22770 is intended for the technological and maintenance of the nuclear power plants on marine vessels and is expected to be put into operation in 2029. It will replace the ageing Imandra nuclear technology service vessel built in 1948, which is currently in operation. In 1981, Imandra replaced the even older Lepse which began construction in 1934 as a regular timber transport but was scuttled when the Germans attacked the city of Nikolaev during World War II. In 1961, it was reconstruction of as a nuclear service vessel for servicing the Russian nuclear fleet.
According to OSK, MSATO is equipped with a diesel power plant, has an unlimited navigation area. It can be operated in the western and eastern regions of the Arctic, including in the Barents, White, Pechorsky, Kara Seas, the Laptev Sea, East Siberian, Chukotsky, Bering, Okhotsk Seas, the northern part of the Sea of Japan.
Project 22770 was developed by the Central Design Bureau Iceberg. MSATO is designed the following operations: unloading used fuel from the reactor units of the ships being serviced; loading fresh nuclear fuel; acceptance, storage and shipment of liquid radioactive waste generated during the operation of ship reactor installations, as well as in the process of refuelling; and placing used fuel assemblies in water in order to reduce residual heat release. The vessel can also transfer old used fuel assemblies into shipping containers for transfer to reprocessing plants, and decontaminate removable equipment of ship reactor plants and refuelling equipment. The MSATO will be 158.8 metres long and 26 metres wide with a draft of 7.5 metres, a displacement of 22,661 tonnes and a speed of 12 knots. It is categorised as ice class Arc5.
