Rosatom is studying the involvement of Chinese and Turkish shipyards for the construction of icebreakers in the Russian Federation

Rosatom is considering the possibility of attracting the competencies of foreign shipyards for the construction of icebreakers at Russian facilities, said Maxim Kulinko, deputy head of the directorate of the Northern Sea Route of the state corporation. This includes non-nuclear icebreakers. China or Turkey may be involved in the work.

“The possibilities of both domestic industry and the possibility of attracting the competencies of foreign shipyards are being explored so that these icebreakers are built at domestic facilities,” said Mr. Kulinko “RIA News”. He also noted that China and Turkey, at the request of Russia, “provided their proposals.”

The deputy head of the Northern Sea Route Directorate believes that the Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreakers have “proven themselves well,” but additional icebreakers need to be built to bring cargo traffic up to 150 million tons by 2030. The new Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker of this project is planned to be laid down in May 2024.

Key consumers of services are Norilsk Nickel, NOVATEK, and Rosneft. It is alleged that all three companies see the need to build two non-nuclear icebreakers for their projects. Discussions are currently underway on what characteristics they should have. So far, there is a prospect of building four vessels of a single project LK-40 by Rosneft and Norilsk Nickel.

Maxim Kulinko said that the prospects for floating nuclear power plants for Arctic projects are being worked out. According to Rosatom, they would suit Gazprom the most. The state corporation also announced that it had developed a federal project to develop year-round shipping on the Northern Sea Route.

About the company’s plans – in the material “Kommersant” “Rosatom appointed chief machine builder”.

Leonid Uvarchev