May 2007:
World's largest nuclear icebreaker put to sea in St. Petersburg
The
largest nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world has been put to sea and
left St. Petersburg for Murmansk The "50 Let Pobedy" or "50 Years of Victory"
icebreaker, which has been under construction since 1989 and was built at the Baltiisky Enterprise ship factory, was successfully tested in February 2007. The icebreaker will follow a Northern
Sea route for the ice channeling of vessels during the 2007 spring navigation period. An upgrade of the Arktika-class
icebreaker, the 159-meter (522-foot) long and 30 meter (100-foot) wide vessel, with a deadweight of 25,000 metric tons, is
designed to break through ice up to 2.8 meters deep (9.2 feet). It has a 138-man crew. The Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet,
which is operated by the Murmansk Shipping Company, currently consists of five Arktika-class icebreakers (Arktika,
Sibir, Rossiya, Sovetskiy Soyuz and Yamal), and two Taymyr-class river icebreakers (Taymyr and Vaygach). According
to experts, Russia will need six to 10 nuclear-powered icebreakers in the next 20 years, as demand for them grows with
the development of the Arctic shelf and increased traffic along the Northern Sea route.
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