A subsidiary of Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom said Tuesday it signed an agreement to build floating nuclear power plants with China.

"The potential use of floating nuclear power plants is significant," Dzhomart Aliev, chief executive officer at Rusatom Overseas, said in a statement. "The design provides for two options -- self-propelled or barge-mounted floating nuclear power plants."

The company signed a memorandum of intent to develop floating nuclear power plants with its Chinese counterparts, CNNC New Energy. The signing came as Chinese delegates spent a week touring St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Russian interests have pivoted to the East, where Asian economic performance translates to greater demand for the energy products supporting the Russian economy.

In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin and special envoy to the Far East Yuri Trutnev said they expected the region would attract as much as $65 billion in new investments.

Aliev said floating nuclear facilities could connect to Far East or arctic coastal infrastructure or park next to a consumer.

"Floating nuclear power plants can provide a reliable power supply not only to remote settlements, for example, in the Far North and Far East regions, but also to large industrial facilities such as oil platforms," he said.