The Ural, Nuclear-powered icebreaker launched in St. Petersburg

By IndraStra Global News Team

By IndraStra Global News Team

Image Attribute: The launch of the Ural / Date: May 25, 2019,/ Source: Petr Kovalev/TASS

On May 25, 2019, Russia launched a third nuclear-powered icebreaker "The Ural (Project 22220)" into the water at the Baltic Shipyards in St Petersburg — ensuring all-year round navigability of the Northern Sea Route (in the Arctic).  Apart from that, the icebreakers will help ensure transportation of hydrocarbons from the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas to the Asia Pacific.

At the ceremony, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said, "Today we are floating the third ship, or the second serial one of Project 22220 - the Ural. They are the ships from new generation icebreakers of that class that we pin our hopes on the exploration of the Northern Sea Route. It is a principally new ship," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said at the ceremony.

Like other vessels from project 22220, the Ural has a dual-draft design. The ballast tanks inside their hull can be adjusted easily to alter the ship’s draft depending on whether the vessel needs to navigate the Arctic sea or shallow river estuaries. These icebreakers are powered by a set of two RITM-200 nuclear reactors, with a thermal capacity of 175 MW each. The propulsion power of this class of ships will be 60 MW which is why this class is sometimes referred to as LK-60.

Image Attribute: The 3-D Design of Project 22220 Ship 

Project 22220 ships have an overall length of 173 meters (568 ft) and breadth of 34 meters (112 ft). The design draught is 10.5 meters (34 ft) and a minimal operating draught is 8.55 meters (28.1 ft). The dual-draught design will enable ships to operate in both Arctic waters and mouths of polar rivers. The ships have a displacement of 33,540 t or 25,450 t without ballast. The maximum ice-breaking capability is 2.8 m / 9, ft at cruising speed between 1.5 - 2 knots (2.8 kph /1.7 mph).

Besides the Ural, the Arktika and the Sibir vessels of Project 22220 are under construction at the Baltic Shipyards. The Ural is due to be handed over to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom in 2022 after the two other icebreakers in the same series, Arktika (Arctic) and Sibir (Siberia), enter service.