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First Project 22220 Nuclear Icebreaker Arctika for Russian Navy to be Commissioned in June 2019

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Naval Forces News - Russia
 
 
 
First Project 22220 Nuclear Icebreaker Arctika for Russian Navy to be Commissioned in June 2019
 
The Arctika lead icebreaker of project 22220 will be commissioned in June 2019. Another two vessels will follow in 2020 and 2021, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at a meeting of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with his deputies.
     
nuclear icebreaker project 22220 rosatom russiaArtist impression of nuclear powered icebreaker "Arktika" (project 22220)
Image: Atomflot
     
"We plan to have the lead Arctika icebreaker commissioned in June 2019. Then the nuclear Ural icebreaker is to follow in November 2020 and the nuclear Sibir icebreaker in November 2021," he said.

As Rosatom nuclear agency extended the life cycle of existing nuclear icebreakers giving the shipyards enough time to renew the fleet, he added.

Factory trials of the first Arctika turbine are beginning at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. It will take close to one month to test each turbine.

They are produced by the Kirov Plant. Previously Ukraine engaged in their production but in 2014 it became necessary to replace the imports. The enterprise invested 900 million rubles and the remaining funds were provided by the Industry Support Fund. Each icebreaker will have two turbines. The first one will be ready in July and the second one in October, Rogozin said.

The nuclear icebreaker of project 22220 has a displacement of 33450 tons and a length of 173.3 meters. The two-unit power plant with RITM-200 reactors has a capacity of 175 MW. The speed is 23 knots. At uninterrupted motion the vessel can break 2.8-meter thick ice. The crew is 74 men.

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Navy Recognition Comments
The three icebreakers were originally planned to be delivered to the customer in 2017, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The three icebreakers are currently under construction at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg on order of Rosatomflot Company, part of Russia’s Rosatom Corporation. The Project 22220 lead icebreaker Arktika was laid down at the Baltic Shipyard in November 2013. The project is estimated at 122 billion rubles ($1.9 billion).

The icebreaker incorporates technologies that were not used in the nuclear-powered fleet earlier. In particular, the ship’s double draught with a controlled submersion depth will allow it to lead a group of vessels in ice-covered areas and river outlets and its new nuclear reactor will make it possible to navigate for more than six months without calling at ports for recharging.

The icebreaker is planned to be able to navigate about seven years without recharging. The icebreaker will receive two water desalination systems able to process 70 tons of water each. As of today, the Baltic Shipyard has more than 10,000 tons of assembled metal structures for the future icebreaker in its slipway.

Project 22220 Nuclear-powered Icebreakers are set to become the largest and most powerful icebreakers in the world. Their length is 173.3 meters with a width of 34 meters and draft of 10.5 meters. Projected tonnage is 33,540 tons. It will be fitted with two RITM-200 pressurized water reactors for a capacity of 175 MW.