Russia and the world's top energy user China may jointly develop six floating nuclear power plants, Russia's nuclear export body said on Tuesday.

The two recently signed a $400 billion natural gas supply deal.

Rusatom Overseas said it signed a memorandum of understanding with China on the development of floating nuclear power plants.

"Floating nuclear plants can provide a reliable power supply not only to remote settlements but also to large industrial facilities such as oil platforms," Rusatom Overseas Chief Executive Dzhomart Aliev said in a statement.

Hit by European and United States sanctions in response to the crisis in Ukraine, Russia is eager to diversify its economy away from the West. Following this new strategy, Russian state monopoly Gazprom signed a $400 billion gas deal with China in May after 10 years of negotiations.

The Russian company plans to launch the world's first floating nuclear power plant in 2018.

(China Daily 07/31/2014 page14)