Russia eyes construction of three Lider class nuclear icebreakers between 2023 and 2025, to enable commercial traffic in the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route in any season, according to the country’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, as cited by environmental organization Bellona.
These vessels will be additional to the three icebreakers already being built for the country, the Arktika, the Sibir and the Ural, featuring the highest manoeuvrability in the world. It has been reported that they are planned to be at the disposal of Russia’s major natural gas projects on Yamal Peninsula to allow the smooth transfer of gas all year long, considering that the region is free of ice for only two months a year.
The project is being developed at the Krylov State Research Centre, in Russia’s second city of St Petersburg in the north-western part of the country. Speaking to Tass, the official state newswire, Mr Rogozin said the goal was to build one main icebreaker ship, and two reserve icebreakers, that would replace those operating since Soviet times.
The ‘Lider’ would have a working capacity of 110 megawatts and would be capable of cutting through ice up to 4.5 metres (14.8 feet) deep. And it would be capable of ploughing through ice that is two metres (6.6 feet) thick at a speed of 29 kph (18 mph). Certain specifications in its hull design would also make it more agile in the water than its older cousins.
In the meantime, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom recently drafted a bill that would give it total charge of taming the country’s 6,000- kilometer long Northern Sea Route, which is expected to authorize Rosatom to oversee and regulate shipping through the Russian Arctic.
