As tradition demands, a storm board was installed on the bottom section of the vessel, the honorable right to fasten it was granted to V. Ruksha, Deputy Director General of the Northern Sea Route Directorate for the Rosatom, A. Fedotov, Permanent Representative of Yakutia, E. Batanov, Vice-Governor St. Petersburg and Director for the Department of Civil Shipbuilding and to I. Shakalo, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Baltic Shipyard.
The heads of Atomflot, division of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and Baltic Shipyard signed the act on keel laying. The keel laying ceremony was held in an abridged format due to the complicated epidemiological situation.
Russian Minister of Industry and Trade D.Manturov said: «Today we started the construction of the 3rd serial universal icebreaker «Yakutia». This is the 4th icebreaker of the project following the «Arctic», «Siberia» and «Ural»...These are truly unique vessels, not a single country in the world has even one of them. The engines of these ships are 2 nuclear reactors with a capacity of 175 MW each, which provide 7 years of autonomous navigation. The design of the icebreaker allows it to be used both in deep sea shipping along the Northern Sea Route and in the shallow areas of Yenisei and the Gulf of Ob, both in ice and in clear water. Each of the icebreakers is an embodiment of a modern, technological and competitive domestic industry».
V. Ruksha opened the keel-laying ceremony for the new icebreaker and congratulated the workers of the Baltic Shipyard and all the enterprises involved in the construction. He emphasized that Project 22220 nuclear icebreakers are essential for the development of the Northern Sea Route. «The construction of the icebreakers within the project confirms Russia's undoubted leadership in the peaceful development of the Arctic».
«The keel-laying for the 3rd serial nuclear-powered icebreaker is a landmark event for all enterprises related to the Arctic», said M. Kashka, Director General of Atomflot. “Despite the pandemic and tough economic conditions, we continue to build icebreakers within the Project 22220.
In his closing remarks Baltic Shipyard’s Director General A. Kadilov thanked the сontracting authority for the trust and emphasized that the plant would do their utmost to successfully administer contractual obligations.
The contract for 2 additional Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreakers construction was concluded between the Baltic Shipyard and Rosatom in August 2019. The contract value is amounted to 100 billion rubles. According to the contract with Rosatomflot, the Baltic Shipyard will build, in total, 5 nuclear-powered icebreakers: the leading nuclear-powered icebreaker «Arktika», the 1st serial icebreaker «Sibir», the 2nd serial icebreaker «Ural», the 3rd serial icebreaker «Yakutia» and the 4th serial icebreaker.
Nuclear icebreakers “Arktika”, “Ural”, “Siberia” and “Yakutia” will become the largest and the most powerful vessels of their type in the world. Main characteristics of the vessel:
- Power capacity: 60 MW (on propeller shafts);
- Maximal speed: 22 knots (in clear water);
- Length: 173,3 meters (160 m, DWL);
- Width: 34 meters (33 m, DWL);
- Hight: 42 meters;
- Draft: 10,5 meters / 8,65 meters;
- Maximal ice penetration: 2,8 meters;
- Displacement: about 33,540 tons:
- Designated service life – 40 years.
The icebreakers are equipped with specially designed 2 RITM-400 reactors and a steam turbine unit with an overall power capacity of 175 MW. «Iceberg» Central Design Bureau designed the technical project of the icebreaker in 2009. The vessel’s dual-draft concept allows for operating it both in the Arctic and in the mouths of the polar rivers.
The icebreakers will be operated in the western region of the Arctic: in the Barents, Pechora and Kara Seas, as well as in shallower areas of the Yenisei estuary and the Ob Bay area.
