after the economic slump of the 1990s, the economy of the oblast started to rebound during the first decade of the 2000s, although at a rate below the country's average. today the kola peninsula is the most industrially developed and urbanized region in northern russia. the major port of the peninsula is murmansk, which serves as the administrative center of murmansk oblast and does not freeze in winter. although the strategic importance of the kola peninsula has diminished since the cold war, the peninsula nevertheless still has the highest concentration of nuclear weapons, reactors, and facilities in russia, with the number of nuclear reactors alone exceeding any other region of the world.