Russia to develop Arctic energy infrastructure, Putin says

Russia plans to build new power-generation facilities in its Arctic zone, including small nuclear power plants, while developing data centres in the Arctic and the Far East, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, September 3.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said the planned Arctic generation projects would include small nuclear plants that he described as having no equivalent elsewhere in the world.

“Thus, new generation facilities should appear in the Arctic zone, including small nuclear power plants, which have no analogues in the world. By the way, nuclear power plays an important role in the development of the digital platform economy, including artificial intelligence tools, as well as data storage and processing centres,” Putin said.

He said nuclear energy would play an important role in supporting the development of the digital economy, including artificial intelligence and facilities for storing and processing data.

Russia also plans to establish data centres in the Arctic and the Far East, Putin said, adding that projects to locate such facilities in the two regions were already being implemented.

By Tamilla Hasanova