Russia Completes Design for New Nuclear Icebreaker Service Vessel

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Russia Completes Design for New Nuclear Icebreaker Service Vessel

Nov. 22, 2018 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Iceberg Central Design Bureau has completed the design of a service vessel for Russia’s new generation of Lider nuclear icebreakers. The first Lider icebreaker is currently under construction by the United Shipbuilders Corporation’s Baltic Shipyard. When completed, these 33,000-ton ships will be the most powerful icebreakers afloat, and will service the Artic shipping lanes, TASS reported yesterday. “We have finished design of a technical part for the project 22770 nuclear technology service vessel,” said the Bureau’s Director General Alexander Ryzhkov. “All the work is done, and all documents are now with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.” Now the necessary licenses must be issued and the choice of the shipbuilder must be made.

The current generation of nuclear technical service vessels is unable to service the new Lider ships. The Baltic Shipyard’s Director General Alexei Kadilov told TASS it would be necessary to begin building such a service vessel no later than 2020, so that it could begin working in 2023.

Ryzhkov said,

“This vessel is technologically complicated, it is big—its deadweight tonnage is 20,000 tons.... It will be used to service icebreakers of the earlier projects and the new icebreakers, which the Baltic Shipyard is building now.... We have designed a vessel 40-50 years ahead of time.”

Founded in 1947, the Iceberg Central Design Bureau designed the first nuclear icebreaker Lenin, icebreakers Yamal, 50 Let Pobedy, and the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power station.