Russia Plans Nuclear-Powered Submarines for LNG Transport via Northern Sea Route

Russia has started designing nuclear-powered submarines to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Arctic to Asia, aiming to nearly halve travel time along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), according to a senior state official. The NSR, which runs along Russia’s Arctic coast, offers a faster alternative to the Suez Canal, but Russia currently faces a shortage of vessels capable of navigating through thick Arctic ice, posing challenges to the Arctic LNG 2 project, which has been sanctioned by the US due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Mikhail Kovalchuk, a close ally of President Putin and director of the Kurchatov Institute, unveiled the submarine project at a recent conference in St. Petersburg. The submarines would serve as an alternative to conventional gas carriers that struggle in Arctic conditions without icebreaker assistance. These nuclear-powered submarines are expected to carry around 180 000 tons of LNG and reduce the journey time along the NSR from 20 to 12 days.

However, some experts, including Alexander Nikitin from the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center, doubt the feasibility of the project, citing Russia’s limited capacity to build such submarines and the need for specialized crews and infrastructure.