Russia to build n-powered icebreaker for Arctic region

MOSCOW - Russia will build a nuclear-powered icebreaker for use during winters in the country’s western Arctic region.

The money earned through selling a stake in Sovcomflot - Russia’s largest shipbuilding company - will not go to state coffers but will be spent on building a new-generation nuclear-powered icebreaker, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said, according to Xinhua.

The construction of the icebreaker, whose speed would reach 37 km per hour, will be completed in five years, he said.

Russia’s Federal Atomic Agency - Rosatom - is currently waiting for a go-ahead for the project scheduled for 2011.

Some officials, however, said that more analyses over the project’s cost were needed, because the project’s expense exceeded the initially estimated cost.

The icebreaker will be used for work in the western Arctic, including Barents Sea, Pechora Sea and Kara Sea.