Russia's nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, which has been launched in St. Petersburg, will start escorting liquefied natural gas  tankers in 2018 under the Yamal LNG project, Rosatom CEO Sergei Kiriyenko told RIA Novosti.

"Contracts for the icebreaker to transport 18 million metric tons of LNG have already been signed and we will launch gas deliveries from the Yamal LNG facility in 2018," Kiriyenko said.

Under the Yamal LNG project, there are plans to build a plant that will refine gas from the local Yuzhno-Tambeiskoye deposit. The plant's first stage is to start operating in 2017.