Russia to develop super icebreaker able to clear passage through 5-meter ice

Russia plans to develop a super-powerful icebreaker that will be able to operate in any ice situation and clear a passage through a 5-meter ice, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday.

"Today we’re making a decision on starting the development work. So far, the talk is about developing a project but soon a final state decision will already be made on creating a super-class icebreaker, a leader icebreaker with a capacity of over 110 MW," Rogozin told a conference on international cooperation in the Arctic, new challenges and the vectors of development.

The super-icebreaker "will be able to operate through an ice cover exceeding 4.5-5 meters," the vice-premier said.

‘This means that we’ll be able to break the ice anytime, in any season and in any weather under the most unfavorable conditions, ensuring the safe passage of both the existing means of transport operating in the Arctic zone and liquefied gas tankers of the largest class with a deadweight of no less than 30,000 tons," the vice-premier said, explaining the advantages of the promising icebreaker.


According to Rogozin, the Russian government considers the Arctic as a practice range to test new domestic innovation technologies whose customer can be the state and big business.

Russia will be testing projects in coming years to develop new materials and fuel fit for their use in extremely low temperatures, the vice-premier said.

The vice-premier also mentioned the projects of creating small aircraft and other hardware, and also ice-class river-sea vessels for Arctic application.
 [tass.com]
 13/10/16