MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin is confident that the construction of Russia’s state-of-the-art nuclear-powered icebreaker Leader will be completed by the end of the decade.
"Another 150 MW nuclear-powered icebreaker Leader is being built at the Zvezda shipyard in the Far East. There were no such ships in the world. Construction is going smoothly, on schedule. I am confident that we will receive this icebreaker by 2030," Putin said at a meeting with students of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He congratulated them on the university's 75th anniversary, which will be celebrated this year.
The President recalled that Russia has been a leader in Arctic exploration for many decades.
"We are building icebreakers that are second to none in the world. As you know, we have 34 diesel icebreakers, eight operational nuclear icebreakers, two of which — the Chukotka and the Leningrad — are currently being built. The Stalingrad is being laid down. And we have two more in the pipeline," the head of state said.
The Leader is the most powerful icebreaker in the world, made as part of the Russian Project 10510 icebreaker Rossiya. Its capacity is 120MW, maximum ice thickness is 4.3 meters. It can lead vessels in two-meter thick ice at a speed of 11 knots and thus ensure effective operation of the Northern Sea Route. The Leader can develop it into a year-round transportation route and the navigation will no longer depend on the weather and ice. The Leader is to transport hydrocarbons from Yamal deposits to Asia and the Pacific Rim.