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Sibir newest nuclear-powered icebreaker completes first working voyage on Yenisei

Project 22220 universal nuclear-powered icebreakers are the world’s largest and most powerful icebreaking ships

Sibir nuclear-powered icebreaker Denis Kozhevnikov/TASS

Sibir nuclear-powered icebreaker

© Denis Kozhevnikov/TASS

MURMANSK, February 2. /TASS/. The Sibir nuclear-powered icebreaker, which joined Atomflot in late January, completed the escort of the Tersky Bereg vessel in the Yenisei River. It was the icebreaker’s first working voyage, Atomflot’s press service said on Tuesday.

"In the Dudinka port waters, the Sibir first serial universal nuclear-powered icebreaker completed the escort of the Tersky Bereg vessel," the press service said in a release. "For the first time, a Project 22220 icebreaker entered Yenisei Bay and fulfilled the task at shallow depths."

According to Atomflot’s First Deputy Director General on navigation Leonid Irlitsa, the Sibir has demonstrated it is a universal icebreaker. "Sibir has proved it is equally effective at open sea passages and in shallow waters," he said. "In Yenisei Bay, the ice thickness reached 1.5 meters, which did not affect the icebreaker’s commercial speed."

On January 28, in the Barents Sea, the Sibir began leading through the ice the Turukhan and the Tersky Bereg vessels, which headed for the Dudunka port. At the entrance to Yenisei Bay, the icebreaker left the Turukhan ship, and together with the Tersky Bereg sailed into the Yenisei’s mouth. Soon, the icebreaker will return to the Turukhan to take the vessel to the Dudinka port. After that, the icebreaker will continue working in the Ob-Yenisei district in the Kara Sea.

About icebreaker

The Sibir universal nuclear-powered icebreaker is the second vessel of Project 22220, built by the Baltic Shipyard. The vessel was named after the Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker, which served the first year-round navigation between Murmansk and Dudinka and which presently is out of service. The new icebreaker was laid on May 26, 2015, and floated on September 22, 2017. In 2022, on January 13, the Sibir departed from St. Petersburg and by January 22 reached Murmansk. On January 25, the icebreaker joined Atomflot.

Project 22220 universal nuclear-powered icebreakers are the world’s largest and most powerful icebreaking ships. Their main task is to provide year-round navigation in the western Arctic. In the years to come, the Project 22220 icebreakers are expected to form the backbone of Russia’s civil icebreaker fleet. The Arktika lead icebreaker was commissioned in October 2020.

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