The state is going to allocate 86 billion rubles for the construction of two nuclear-powered icebreakers LK-60 for the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Two nuclear-powered icebreakers of this project will be built entirely at the expense of the state. In the spring of 2013, the Ministry of Finance of Russia opposed such a construction financing scheme, which suggested that Rosatom independently find 70% of the funds required for the construction of ships. As a result, the summing up of the results of the competition for the construction of two icebreakers was delayed by 6 months.
On Wednesday, August 21, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a corresponding government decree, which determines the amount of budget investments for the construction of 2-series nuclear-powered icebreakers, project 22220 with a capacity of 60 MW (LK-60Ya), the official website of the Russian government reports. The explanatory note to the resolution states that the volume of budget financing for the project in 2014-2020 will amount to 86.1 billion rubles. The ships are to be handed over to the customer FSUE Atomflot, which is part of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
In the spring of 2013, the Ministry of Finance of Russia proposed to amend the draft government decree and significantly limit the amount of budget funding for the project: for the first nuclear icebreaker - 38.9% of its total cost, and for the second icebreaker - 30%. The rest of the funding was supposed to be provided by attracting extrabudgetary sources. Among potential investors in this project, the Ministry of Finance considered companies that could use the Northern Sea Route for the transportation of goods.
Icebreaker LK-60Ya, project
Last week, Atomflot CEO Vyacheslav Ruksha made a statement that companies that are going to work on the development of the Arctic shelf by 2019-2020 may be left without sufficient icebreaker support along the NSR due to the lack of a final decision on the construction of two icebreakers under the new project LK-60Ya. Ruksha hoped that the decision to build new nuclear-powered icebreakers would be made in September 2013, but it is already clear that 2019 is lost for us. According to the director of Atomflot, the first serial icebreaker will be commissioned no earlier than 2020.
The tender for the construction of two icebreakers under the 22220 project was announced back in January of this year, initially it was planned to sum up its results by the end of February 2013, but due to the fact that the project financing procedure was not approved, the end date of the tender was postponed several times. Currently, the deadline for applications has been extended until August 28, and the results of the competition are planned to be announced on September 2, 2013. The main contender for the execution of this order is the St. Petersburg enterprise "Baltzavod", which is part of the state United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). A subsidiary of USC LLC Baltiyskiy Zavod - Sudostroenie (to which all orders and personnel of Baltzavod were transferred, it has a license to build icebreakers) has already submitted its application for participation in the tender for the construction of both icebreakers. It should be noted that the shipyards of this enterprise are already building the lead icebreaker of the series. At one time, the company was the only participant in the tender for its construction and received a government order for its initial price. The construction of the first icebreaker LK-60Ya cost the Russian budget 36.9 billion rubles. This ship is planned to be handed over to the fleet before the end of 2017.
The decision to build two new nuclear-powered icebreakers looks reasonable. Currently, 5 Russian nuclear icebreakers are working on the NSR. At the same time, the service life of the shallow draft icebreakers Vaigach and Taimyr ends in 2018, and by 2021, only one ship remains in the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet - 50 Let Pobedy. To ensure uninterrupted pilotage of merchant ships along the Northern Sea Route routes, it will be necessary to lay down and put into operation 3 new universal nuclear icebreakers by 2021. According to the schedule, which was originally approved by the government, the construction of the first new icebreaker LK-60Ya should begin on January 1, 2014, the laying of the icebreaker on the slipway should take place in January 2015, and the icebreaker should be launched in May 2017. After carrying out comprehensive tests, the nuclear icebreaker should be transferred to Atomflot in the port of registry of Murmansk on June 15, 2019. The construction of the second icebreaker should begin a year after the laying of the first; it is planned to lay it on the slipway in November 2015, and launch it in 3 years. Atomflot is to receive the vessel on December 25, 2020.
In recent years, Russia has repeatedly tried to declare itself as a state for which the development of the Arctic is one of the priority tasks. It is the presence of its own nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet that allows Russia to maintain its informal status as the main Arctic power. But in recent decades, due to global warming on the planet, almost all circumpolar states began to think about strengthening their positions in the Arctic. Countries that are far enough from the Far North, for example, China, which are hatching plans to build their own icebreakers, have also decided to do this.
For this reason, the construction of new nuclear icebreakers by Russia looks quite justified. According to Yuri Krupnov, who is the chairman of the supervisory board of the Institute of Demography, Migration and Regional Development, the people who insisted on building new Russian nuclear icebreakers did absolutely the right thing. At present, the Northern Sea Route is a vital transport artery for the Russian Federation, which in no case should be transferred either to the PRC or to any other countries.
Over the past 3 years, the cargo turnover on the NSR has almost doubled. However, so far, transportation is mainly carried out under foreign flags. Currently, there are not many Russian ice-class ships that could be used in the Arctic. However, by 2016, when the construction of gas processing plants in the Gulf of Ob is completed, the Russian cargo traffic should immediately grow by 16 million tons of cargo per year. By the way, this gas has already been sold for many years to come to the states of Southeast Asia. In the future, another 9 million tons of oil products should be added to it.
The northern route is constantly developing, it is not surprising that with some observed climate warming, in the past few years, shipowners from all over the world have begun to look closely at the Arctic. If new transport vessels are built that will be able to sail in the Arctic Ocean, then in the foreseeable future the cargo traffic on the NSR may increase tenfold. Of course, Russia will not overtake the Suez Canal, through which about 600 million tons of cargo passes annually, but the time savings achieved when passing from Europe to Southeast Asia along the NSR is 1.5-2 times. For some shipowners, such time savings can be critical.
Icebreaker project 22220 (LK-60Ya)
Icebreaker LK-60Ya of project 22220 should become the most powerful and largest icebreaker in the world. Its length should be 173, 3 meters, width - 34 meters, minimum working draft - 8, 55 meters, draft along the constructive waterline - 10, 5 meters. The planned total displacement is 33, 54 thousand tons. A fundamentally new two-reactor power plant of the Ritm-200 type with a capacity of 175 MW will be installed on the new icebreaker, which will replace the traditional OK-900 systems. It is reported that the new power plant will be much safer and almost 2 times smaller in size. In addition, the reactor core will be reloaded only once every 7 years.
It is reported that the new nuclear-powered icebreaker of the LK-60Ya project will have an increased service life (up to 40 years), as well as better icebreaking capacity (2, 8-2, 9 meters versus 2.5 meters on old ships). A feature of the ship will be a variable draft, which will allow the icebreaker to be used in various conditions - both on the routes of the NSR and in the mouths of polar rivers. The ship's two-draft design is a unique technical solution. A special ballast system installed on the icebreaker will allow it to change the draft from maximum to minimum and vice versa. By collecting seawater in ballast tanks, the icebreaker will be able to increase its passability in severe ice conditions. During the approach to the mouths of Siberian rivers, the nuclear icebreaker will dump ballast and "float".
Icebreaker LK-60Ya, project
The fact that, most likely, all new generation icebreakers will be manufactured at the Baltic Shipyard is not an accident. According to Alexander Voznesensky, general director of Baltic Shipyard - Shipbuilding, this enterprise is the only one in Russia that has been building ships of this class over the past 50 years. Secondly, only this enterprise is able to turn a 60 MW nuclear icebreaker into metal without attracting capital investments. Thirdly, today only Baltiyskiy Zavod has a corresponding license from Rostekhnadzor for the construction of LK-60Ya. The general director also noted the fact that this very large project of the Baltic Shipyard could play a very important role in the financial recovery of the strategic enterprise.
It is reported that icebreakers of this type will operate in the western region of the Arctic: in the Barents, Pechora and Kara Seas, as well as in the shallower regions of the Ob Bay and at the estuary of the Yenisei. In the summer-autumn period, the LK-60Ya icebreakers will operate in the eastern region of the Arctic. Icebreakers of this class will be designed to navigate ships along the NSR, support expeditions, escort research vessels, carry out rescue operations in the Arctic, tow ships and other floating objects in clear water and ice.
Known technical characteristics of the LK-60Ya project nuclear icebreaker:
Standard displacement - 23,000 tons.
Length - 173.3 m;
Width - 34 m;
Height - 15.2 m;
Draft - from 8, 5 to 10, 5 m;
Power plant: 2 nuclear reactors, 175 MW each, shaft power - 60 MW;
Power plant capacity - 81,600 hp;
Maximum speed in open water - 22 knots;
The speed of the icebreaker in ice up to 3 m thick - 2 knots;
Icebreaker crew - up to 70 people;
The ship has the ability to base 2 Ka-32 helicopters;
