Sibir icebreaker joins Russia's nuclear icebreaker fleet

ST. PETERSBURG. Dec 24 (Interfax) - Baltic Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, USC) on Friday signed a certificate of delivery and acceptance of the Project 22220 Sibir nuclear icebreaker with the Rosatom state atomic energy corporation, the shipyard's press service said.

"The icebreaker will leave, but Baltic Shipyard will remain onboard: we'll help you operate it and provide you with spare parts," the press service quoted Baltic Shipyard CEO Alexei Kadilov as saying.

"Commitment to the construction of a nuclear icebreaker fleet also implies an ambition to maintain a high level of the ships' environmental friendliness. Especially taking into account the Glasgow climate conference in November, where the global community made an important decision that the nuclear power industry should be among the founding elements of a low-carbon energy balance," the statement quoted USC CEO Alexei Rakhmanov as saying.

Baltic Shipyard and Rosatom concluded a contract worth 84.4 billion rubles for the construction of the first and second serial Project 22220 icebreakers, named the Sibir and the Ural, in May 2014. The Sibir and the Ural were initially to be commissioned in November 2020 and November 2021 respectively, and these timeframes were later moved to 2021 and 2022.

Baltic Shipyard has laid down and is constructing the third and the fourth serial Project 22220 icebreakers, the Yakutia and the Chukotka, under a contract worth over 100 billion rubles. Their delivery is scheduled for 2024 and 2026.

The Arktika, the lead Project 22220 icebreaker, was laid down at Baltic Shipyard in November 2013, launched in June 2016, and commissioned in October 2020.

Project 22220 icebreakers are designed to escort ships in the Arctic, the Yenisei River, and the Ob Inlet, to tow ships and other floating structures through ice and clean waters, and to accomplish other missions. The icebreakers have a length of 173.3 meters, a beam of 34 meters, a powerplant capacity of 60MW, and a maximum icebreaking capability of 2.8 meters.