The agreement stipulates that in March 2008 a prototype container should be prepared, with 21 more Series SS-109 containers being produced by the end of the year.

Sevmash already has experience in the production of such items. From 2002 to 2006 under the Russian-American Cooperative Threat Reduction program, produced 60 containers for storage and transport of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear-powered subs.

The order for Leningrad NPP will require an expansion in Sevmash’s production activities, since the SS-109 container is larger in size and mass than other models previously produced at their plant. According to the deputy general director at Sevmash, Mikhail Budnichenko, a special division within the plant is being prepared and equipped for the production of the containers.

FSUE PO Sevmash is the largest complex in Russia for the construction of ships and vessels. The company is largely devoted to building nuclear powered submarines for the Russian navy. Rosenergoatom announced back in May 2006 that Sevmash had won the bid for the construction of the floating reactor for the Low Capacity Atomic Thermoelectric Power Station, construction of which began last year, RIA-Novosti reported.