Russia unveils ‘world’s biggest’ nuclear icebreaker

Arktika, ordered by Russia’s Rosatom state nuclear agency, was built at the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg, and will be ready to use by the end of next year. 

“There are no icebreakers like it in the world,” said Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko at the ceremony, according to a company statement. 

Arktika is the first vessel in a project aimed at allowing year-round navigation in the Northern Passage, and in particular ship Russian energy products from the Arctic to Asia.

 Kiriyenko said that contracts have already been signed for the Arktika to accompany shipments from the Yamal liquefied natural gas terminal that Russia is developing on the Yamal peninsula together with France’s Total and China National Petroleum Corporation.