MURMANSK, May 24. /TASS/. Rosatomflot's Sibir nuclear-powered icebreaker of project 22220 for the first time performed flood-control works on the Yenisei River. The crew created additional ice channels and slots in the riverbed to prevent possible ice jams, Rosatom's nuclear fleet division, Atomflot, reported on Tuesday.

"For the first time, the universal nuclear icebreaker of project 22220 has been involved in this type of work. The crew's task was to make ice slots in the Yenisei River's main channel near the Luzinsky, Nikitinsky and Funtusovsky Islands, as well as to crush the ice road connecting the Yenisei's left and right banks," Atomflot's communications department quoted the company’s Acting Director General Leonid Irlitsa as saying.

The ice on the road was two meters thick, the communications department said. The anti-flood (flood-control) works have been organized to avoid ice jams and the rise of water above threatening levels. Hydrometeorology experts forecast the Yenisei's ice drift will have breaking waves and passages of ice jams.

"The set task has been fulfilled due to the icebreaker's technical capabilities, the crew's experience, and recommendations from Glavsevmorput (the Northern Sea Route's operator)," the communications department said.

Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreakers will facilitate the year-round navigation in the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Three universal nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 are operating in the Northern Sea Route waters: the Arktika, the Sibir and the Ural. The third and fourth serial icebreakers are being built - the Yakutia (the due date is December, 2024) and the Chukotka (due in December, 2026). Rosatomflot has contracted the building of the fifth and sixth serial icebreakers - the Kamchatka and the Sakhalin. They will be laid in 2024 - 2025.