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Fincantieri secures high-tech Russian projects

Fincantieri secures high-tech Russian projects
Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri has signed two MoUs with Russia covering a harsh weather drillship and a nuclear waste disposal barge.

Both innovative projects were unveiled at a Business Forum held in Trieste - in the presence of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Italy's President of the Council of Ministers, Enrico Letta.

Under the first agreement Fincantieri is to work with the Krylov State Research Centre to define plans for a drillship capable of operating in extreme conditions. The highly advanced vessel will be able to navigate in ice up to 1.5 m thick and ambient temperatures of -40°C and will have a four-month operational autonomy.

Fincantieri has also won a contract from RosRAO, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise for radioactive waste management, to build a semi-submersible floating platform measuring 82 m x 27 m for the transportation of nuclear submarine reactor compartments. To be built in the Group's Italian yards for delivery by the end of 2015, the platform will have a 3,000 ton displacement and be used to transport special material between the storage area and White Sea shipyards facing the Kola Peninsula.

The deals come just four months after Fincantieri and the Krylov Centre signed a framework agreement to co-operate in several maritime sectors, including offshore. Before that Fincantieri’s Muggiano yard had in 2011 delivered to Russia a multipurpose vessel, Rossita, for the safe carriage of nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from the decommissioning of Russian nuclear submarines.