Baltiysky Zavod Shipyard Cuts Metal for Nuclear Icebreaker

01.11.2012 Cutting of metal for a new-generation 60-megawatt nuclear-powered icebreaker LK-60 (Project 22220) started on Nov 1 at Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in the presence of Vyacheslav Ruksha, director general of state-led JSC Atomflot. The RUR 37-bln vessel will become the world's largest and most powerful icebreaker.

Director of the ship's ordering company Vyacheslav Ruksha triumphantly started a plasma-cutting machine at 11 am.

"Construction start of the new multifunctional nuclear icebreaker is a significant milestone not only for Atomflot and Baltiysky Zavod but for the whole nation", commented Ruksha. "It is not only revival of Russian civil nuclear shipbuilding but a guarantee that within the next forty or fifty years our icebreaking fleet will effectively and continuously accomplish government's tasks in the Arctic and along the Northern Sea Route", he said.

"We were chosen to build this ship for a good reason", says Alexander Voznesensky, Director General of Baltiysky Zavod Shipbuilding Ltd. "First, building of icebreakers is core competency of our shipyard. Second, this ship was designed by Iceberg bureau which is now integrated into our company", explained Voznesensky.

The contract for construction of LK-60 was signed in Aug 2012. According to the contract terms, Baltiysky Zavod Shipbuilding Ltd must build turnkey icebreaker and deliver it to the pier of Atomflot in Murmansk no later than Dec 30, 2017. In accordance with the approved schedule, the icebreaker will be laid down in Nov 2013 and launched in Nov 2015.

Volume of works includes technical documentation development, construction of the icebreaker (including integration of nuclear powerplant), fitting of the ship with all appropriate equipment, launching, dockside/sea/ice trials, and acceptance of the turnkey ship by state commission.

The Project 22220 icebreaker LK-60 will be the largest and the most powerful in the world. Her length will be 173.3 meters, beam – 34 meters, draft at design waterline – 10.5 meters, minimal working draft – 8.55 meters, displacement – 33,540 tons. The icebreaker will be powered by two nuclear reactors; basic steam source is 175-MW reactor plant RITM-200.

JSC Iceberg Design Bureau developed technical project of the nuclear-powered icebreaker in 2009. Dual-draft design makes possible to use the ship both in Arctic waters and in estuaries of polar rivers. The icebreaker will work in West Arctic – the Barents, the Pechora, the Kara seas, and shallow estuaries of the Yenisei River.

Baltiysky Zavod was established in 1856 by an Englishman named Mark McFerson. Through its 150-year history, the shipyard was privatized not once, but every time having faced financial problems it was nationalized again. Finally, late in 2011 the company again passed to state control represented by United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

To preserve work collective and expertise, it was decided to establish Baltiysky Zavod Shipbuilding Ltd within the USC. Most of employees passed to the new company. Being a strategic company, the new legal entity obtained shipbuilding and machine-building expertise. Main task of JSC Baltiysky Zavod now is to keep property in order and protect state interests in legal proceedings.