Under the Global Partnership program, Great Britain allocated 21 million GBP (about $40 million) for the construction of an interim nuclear storage facility and 50 storage containers at the state-run enterprise Atomflot, in Russia's Arctic port of Murmansk.
An inauguration ceremony was attended by Prince Michael of Kent, who opened the facility, together with Murmansk Region governor Yury Yevdokimov.
Andrei Abramov, Atomoflot's chief engineer, said the facility will contribute to the region's nuclear security and will downgrade major nuclear and environmental concerns.
"Spent nuclear fuel from atomic icebreakers is currently being stored on board the Lotta, a nuclear fuel supply ship," he said. "On-shore storage will dramatically increase safety."
Reloading of spent nuclear fuel to the new facility will allow the Lotta to collect further fuel from outlying sites and icebreakers for safer storage.
