Today, a solemn ceremony was held in St. Petersburg to lay down the universal nuclear icebreaker Leningrad. The new icebreaker became the fifth ship in the 22220 project series, created as part of the federal project "Development of the Northern Sea Route." The important event attracted Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev, VTB head Andrei Kostin, Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko, and St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov to the Baltic Shipyard. Vladimir Putin also came to take part in the ceremony.
The President emphasized that the powerful nuclear icebreaker Leningrad will play a key role in strengthening Russia's technological and industrial potential. After completion of construction, it will operate on the Northern Sea Route, ensuring safe and efficient navigation in difficult Arctic conditions.
Russia today has a unique, I want to emphasize this – unique – the largest icebreaker fleet in the world.
According to the President, the Leningrad will not only contribute to the development and study of the Arctic, but also support the delivery of goods, building materials and fuel. The construction of the Leningrad is another step in strengthening Russia's technological potential, providing a powerful ship for work on the Northern Sea Route.
Currently, the Russian icebreaker fleet consists of 34 diesel and 7 nuclear icebreakers, including the Arktika, Sibir, Ural, Yamal, 50 Let Pobedy, Taimyr and Vaigach, and others. The new ship will play a key role in ensuring navigation in difficult Arctic conditions.
FSUE Atomflot (part of the Rosatom State Corporation) is the official customer of Project 22220 nuclear icebreakers. The Arktika, Sibir and Ural nuclear-powered ships have already been handed over to the customer. The Yakutia and Chukotka icebreakers are at different stages of construction, and the Stalingrad will undergo the laying procedure last.
In his address to the shipbuilders and guests of the ceremony, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, emphasized the company's special status in this order.
I want to appeal to the employees of the Baltic Shipyard, our friends, brothers in arms of the peaceful atom, to thank them for the successes that the team has already achieved. Rosatom is not only a customer here, but also a participant in this work. Together, we will ensure that the Northern Sea Route is the most competitive route in the world.
Universal nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 code LK-60Ya have a design feature - ballast tanks for changing the draft of the vessel. This allows the icebreaker to operate both in the western Arctic region, where it is necessary to ensure greater immersion for cross-country ability in ice, and on the rivers of the Arctic region, where there is a risk of running aground and therefore it is necessary to dump ballast. The use of such dual-draft nuclear-powered ships reduces the cost of icebreaker escort by 1.5-1.8 times compared to the use of two separate icebreakers.
LK-60Ya icebreakers received a RITM-200 nuclear reactor with a service life of 40 years, the assigned resource is 320 thousand hours. It has an integrated hull, which reduces the weight and dimensions of the unit and reduces the risk of leaks. Technical characteristics include a length of 173.3 m, a width of 34 m, a displacement of 33,540 tons, and a power on the propeller shafts of up to 60 megawatts. The maximum speed of the project's icebreakers is 22 knots, and the icebreaking capacity is 2.9 m.
A feature of the Leningrad icebreaker and subsequent nuclear-powered ships of Project 22220 will be a modified electric propulsion system. Due to sanctions, the supplier of propulsion electric motors was replaced and a different component base was used in the creation of power elements of the system. The nuclear-powered ship is equipped with three twin propulsion electric motors with a capacity of 20 MW each.
Earlier www1.ru wrote that the Russian Navy plans to receive the multipurpose ice patrol ship Ivan Papanin by the end of this year. It will also receive a residence permit in the waters of the Arctic. The construction of icebreakers is also in the plans of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). Over the next 11 years, according to the corporation's presentation, it will build five icebreakers - for 143 billion rubles.