Chukotka will operate a floating nuclear heat and power plant (FNHPP), which is due to replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant and the Chaunskaya thermoelectric plant that are scheduled to be decommissioned in 2019, the Arctic-Info agency reports.

The plant will be built and installed under a cooperation agreement, which the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Area, Roman Kopin, and Rosatom General Director Sergei Kiriyenko signed at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

Governor Kopin pledged all-out governmental support for the construction of coastal hydraulic engineering structures for the FNHPP and the creation of a power distribution centre in Bilibino by 2019. "We expect that these projects will make Chukotka's power system more reliable and efficient and keep electricity and heating bills at acceptable levels," he said.