The Arktika will be able to break ice up to 3 m thick, while moving at a speed of 3.7 km/h
February 13, 2025

The lead nuclear icebreaker of Project 22220, Arktika, was launched on Thursday at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. The ceremony was attended by Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative for the Northwestern Federal District Vladimir Bulavin, and Rosatom State Corporation CEO Sergei Kiriyenko.

According to tradition, the vessel was first consecrated, and then a bottle of champagne was smashed against its hull. "It is difficult to overestimate what our scientists, designers, and shipbuilders have done. There is a feeling of pride for our country and the people who created such a ship. Seven feet under the keel, great Arktika!", RIA Novosti quotes Valentina Matviyenko as saying.

The new nuclear icebreaker Arktika of Project 22220 is 173 meters long and 34 meters wide, with a displacement of 33.5 thousand tons. According to Rosatomflot, Arktika will be able to overcome ice up to 2.9 m thick, while moving at a speed of up to 2 knots (3.7 km/h), reports the TV channel «Zvezda».

The vessel was laid down in November 2013, and is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018. Its main task is to piloting ships and caravans in the Western Arctic, towing ships and floating structures in ice and open water, participation in rescue operations.

The vessel is equipped with the most modern and advanced dual-reactor nuclear power plant for surface vessels, the RITM-200, with a capacity of 175 MW and consumption of only a few dozen grams of nuclear fuel per day.

Under the contract with FSUE Atomflot, the Baltic Shipyard will build two more Project 22220 nuclear icebreakers: Sibir (laid down in May 2015) and Ural, with commissioning dates in 2019 and 2020, respectively.