The Russian nuclear icebreaker Ural of project 22220 of the Arctic type will be commissioned by the end of 2022. This was announced by the Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia Alexey Besprozvannykh during a speech at the Federation Council, RIA Novosti reports.
"Two of the five nuclear—powered 60 megawatt icebreakers of Project 22220 — the Arctic and Siberia - have already been transferred to Atomflot. Another one is the serial Ural, which is 85 percent ready and will be delivered to us in principle by the end of this year," he said.
The Deputy Minister stressed that everything necessary for the completion of the icebreaker "Ural" has already been purchased.
"We consider the risks for the other two serial icebreakers and the world's most powerful icebreaker Leader to be moderate, since the competence and production of the main ship equipment for these nuclear-powered vessels are concentrated at our Russian shipbuilders and Rosatom," Besprozvannykh added.
The icebreakers of Project 22220 are the largest and most powerful in the world. They are equipped with RITM-200 nuclear reactors, which feed six electric motors with a total capacity of 60 megawatts. Icebreakers of the "Arctic" type can penetrate years with a thickness of up to three meters.
In November last year, the United Shipbuilding Corporation reported that the nuclear icebreaker "Siberia" of project 22220 had entered sea trials.
In October 2021, Andrey Yefimov, Deputy Chief of the Logistics Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, announced that five icebreakers would be built in the country by 2033.