According to a statement from Rosatomflot, the operator of the nuclear-powered ships in the Russian Arctic, some units will be approved for another 50,000 operating hours. The current icebreakers are available until the delayed delivery of the new “Project 22220” icebreakers are put into operation.
Originally, the reactors were approved for 150,000 hours. Now, the additional six-year operation will help Russia’s icebreaker fleet ensure navigation by the Northern Seas until all five next-generation icebreakers of Project 22220 are operational.
The “Yamal” was built in the late Soviet period and commissioned in 1992 and is today, together with “50 Let Pobedy”, the only remaining Arktika-class icebreaker still in operation.
“Work in the waters of the North-East Passage is increasing from year to year. The extension of the operating licence allows us to meet our obligations,” RosatomflotDirector Mustafa Kashka said in a news update of the company. With an extended service life of the reactors, the “Yamal” follows the previously granted extensions to 200,000 hours for the icebreakers the “Taimyr” and “Vaigash”. The nuclear-powered container ship “Sevmorput” also has a longer service life.
This summer, the “Yamal” will remain in the waters north and east of the Taimyr Peninsula, while the three other nuclear-powered icebreakers from Rosatomflot, the “50 Let Pobedy”, “Taimyr” and “Vaigach”, are in Murmansk for scheduled repairs.
The first icebreaker of project 22220, called “Arktika”, is expected to travel north to Murmansk from the Baltic Sea shipyard in St. Petersburg later this year, following a number of delays and difficulties during construction and testing.