The keel laying ceremony was held for the next nuclear-powered icebreaker of project 22220 (LC-60YA), which was named Chukotka.

The offshore vessel will be built at the Baltic Shipyard, taking into account the new technical solutions tested on the lead icebreaker of the Arktika series.

An agreement between the shipyard and Rosatom State Corporation was signed last summer to build two new Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreakers. The contract is worth 100 billion rubles. According to the document, the shipbuilding enterprise will build five nuclear-powered icebreakers.

As CEO of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev said, a new series of such vessels will consist of the most powerful and efficient icebreakers, which only exist in the world. He pointed out that the construction is being performed with the increasing share of domestic component parts.

It is supposed that Chukotka will be delivered in 2026.

The main power plant of the vessel consists of two Ritm-200 reactors, each having a capacity of 175 MW. The advantage of this installation is its compactness, efficiency and energy-efficient integral arrangement.

Another feature of the new icebreakers is the use of variable draught with ballast tanks. Such vessels can operate in deep water and shallow water in river beds, overcoming ice up to three meters thick without losing progress.

Made in Russia // Made in Russia

Author: Ksenia Gustova