Designing a 110 MW Leader-class icebreaker will take about a year and a half, Alexei Rakhmanov, President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), has said.
“Then we will think when the first sections are to be laid down and when the construction is to begin. It will require more experiments, more science”, he said at the keel-laying ceremony held at Baltiysky Zavod shipyard.
Sergey Kiriyenko, Director General of Rosatom Corporation, said the designing of the Leader-class icebreaker would begin this year. He emphasized that the vessel would be able to break though 4-meter thick ice.
“These are unique characteristics. A Leader-class icebreaker is not expected to do more, as it solves unique tasks”, he added.
The Arktika, lead icebreaker of Project 22220, was laid down at Baltiysky Zavod in November 2013 and launched on June 16, 2016. The Sibir, the first serial icebreaker of the Project, was laid down on May 26, 2015. The Ural, the second serial 60MW icebreaker of project 22220, has been laid down on July 25, 2016.
Three nuclear-powered icebreakers of Project 22220 ordered by Rosatom Corporation will be built to RS class.
Key specifications of 60 MW icebreakers: length – 173.3 m; beam – 34 m; depth – 15.2 m; designed draught – 10.5 m / 8.65 m; full displacement – 33,540 t, crew – 75. Specified lifetime – 40 years.
Each icebreaker will be powered by two RITM-200 reactors of 175 MWt. The system was developed especially for this ship.
The ship was designed by Central Design Bureau Iceberg in 2009. The icebreaker’s advanced dual-draft capability makes it suitable for operations both in the Arctic waters and in the mouths of the northern rivers.
The icebreakers will be operated in deep waters of western Arctic areas (Barents, Pechora and Kara Seas) and in shallow waters of river estuaries (Yenisey’s mouth and the Gulf of Ob).
Baltiysky Zavod OJSC (Saint-Petersburg) specializes in construction of rank 1 surface-crafts, ice class vessels with nuclear and diesel-electric propulsion plants, nuclear floating energy units, floating distilling plants.
The shipyard was set up in 1856. In its history Baltiysky Zavod has built over 600 ships and vessels and has been privatized several times and returned to state control when financial problems arose. In late 2011, the shipyard fell under the control of the state represented by the United Shipbuilding Corporation. To preserve the staff and the competence of the shipyard, USC founded Baltiysky Zavod – Sudostroyeniye LLC. The company’s staff currently numbers 4,000 employees.
The backlog of orders of Baltiysky Zavod-Sudostroyeniye LLC is currently valued at about 150 billion RUB. The largest orders are: three 60-MWt nuclear icebreakers, 25-MWt diesel-electric icebreaker, floating power unit of the world’s first floating nuclear heat and power plant, engineering products. In 2015, the company’s revenue totaled 11.857 million RUB, net profit – 1.229 million RUB, current assets – 62.736 billion RUB. (Portnews/Business World Magazine)