The largest nuclear icebreaker. The largest icebreaker in the world. Nuclear icebreaker "Yamal"

The first icebreaker, which appeared in the 18th century, was a small steamer that carried out icebreaking operations in the harbor of Philadelphia. More than one century has passed since its appearance, and during this time there have been global changes in the design: first, the wheel was replaced with a turbine, then with an atomic reactor, and now ships of impressive size are engaged in breaking ice in the Arctic. Today, Russia and America can be proud of their large fleet, consisting of nuclear and diesel powerful ships, which are designed to carry out icebreaking operations, but where and when the largest icebreaker in the world was created, some still do not know. This is what will be discussed in our article.

The construction of the nuclear-powered lighter-carrying container ship was carried out at the large shipyard Zaliv in the period from 1982 to 1988. The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Sevmorput" is an icebreaking transport vessel that used a nuclear power plant. The lighter carrier was put into use in December 1988.

After raising the flag and starting work, the total distance of the lighter carrier was 302,000 miles. Over the entire period of operation of the icebreaker, over 1.5 million tons of various cargo have been transported. The need to recharge a nuclear reactor was required only once.

The main purpose of the vessel with a height of a multi-storey building and a length of 260.1 m is to transport cargo to remote regions of the North, but it is also capable of moving in 1 meter thick ice. And who after that will say that the Sevmorput ship does not deserve to be called an icebreaker?

"Arctic"

The nuclear-powered icebreaker is named after its legendary predecessor, which was launched in 1972 and has been in operation for over 30 years. The vessel is 173.3 meters long and can operate in bays and estuaries, as well as chop ocean ice. The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" was launched without a superstructure section in June 2016. According to the technology, the superstructure weighing about 2,400 tons should be installed after the ship has been launched.

Icebreaker "Arktika" of project 22220 could pass through ice 2.9 thick. Thanks to the modern automatic control system, which the new vessel was equipped with, the number of the crew was reduced by half.

The icebreaker is planned to be put into operation in 2018-2019, and after this happens it will break all records in terms of the power of power plants, in terms of the size and height of the ice through which it will have to pass.

"50 years of Victory"

The main difference between the atomic icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" with a length of 159.6 meters is its deep landing and impressive power. The construction of the ship was carried out from 1989 to 2007. From the moment of launching and the beginning of its use, the vessel "50 Let Pobedy" has been sent on expeditions to the North Pole more than 100 times.

"Taimyr"

The 151.8 meter long nuclear icebreaker at river mouths is capable of breaking 1.77 meters thick ice, thus clearing the way for other vessels. The main features of the Taimyr icebreaker include reduced landing and the ability to carry out icebreaking operations in areas with extremely low temperatures.

"Vaygach"

The shallow nuclear icebreaker is the second ship in the series of Project 10580, which was built in Finland by order of the USSR. The main purpose of the 151.8 meter long icebreaker is to serve ships heading along the Northern Sea Corridor to the estuaries of rivers in Siberia. The ship is named after a hydrographic ship of the early 20th century performing icebreaking operations.

The Vaygach icebreaker accompanies ships loaded with metal from Norilsk, and timber and ore from Igarka. Thanks to a nuclear turbo-electric plant, Vaigach can pass through ice up to two meters thick. In ice 1.77 meters thick, the vessel travels at a speed of 2 knots. Icebreaking operations are carried out at temperatures down to -50 degrees.

Yamal

The construction of an icebreaker with a length of 150 meters was completed in 1986, and it was launched 3 years later. Initially, the ship was called “October Revolution”, and in 1992 it was renamed “Yamal”.

In 2000, Yamal went to the North Pole to celebrate the third millennium. In total, 46 expeditions to the North Pole were made on the icebreaker. Yamal became the seventh ship that managed to reach the North Pole. One of the advantages of the Yamal icebreaker is the ability to move forward and backward.

"Healy"

On the 128-meter long icebreaker, which is the largest in America, the Americans managed to reach the North Pole on their own for the first time. This event took place in 2015. The research vessel is equipped with the latest measuring and laboratory equipment.

"Polar Sea"

The construction of an icebreaker with a length of 122 meters was completed in 1976, the vessel is still in working order, although in the period from 2007 to 2012 it was not operated. Diesel engines and gas turbine units produce 78 thousand horsepower in total. In terms of power characteristics, it is practically in no way inferior to the icebreaker "Arktika". The speed of the icebreaker "Polar Sea" in ice 2 meters thick is 3 knots.

Louis S. St-Laurent

The construction of the Canadian icebreaker 120 meters long was completed in 1969. In 1993 the vessel was completely modernized. Louis S. St-Laurent is the first ship in the world to reach the North Pole (the expedition ended in 1994).

"Polarstern"

The German vessel 118 meters long, designed for scientific and research work, can be operated at temperatures up to -50 degrees. In ice up to 1.5 meters thick icebreaker "Polarstern" moves at a speed of 5 knots. The vessel mainly follows the directions of the Arctic and Antarctic in order to study these areas.

In 2017, the emergence of a new icebreaker "Polarstern-II" is expected, which will be entrusted with watch duty in the Arctic.

The nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal is one of ten icebreakers of the Arktika class, the construction of which began in 1986, during the Soviet era. The construction of the Yamal icebreaker was completed in 1992, but already at that time there was no need to use it to ensure navigation along the Northern Sea Route. Therefore, the owners of this vessel, which has a weight of 23455 tons and a length of 150 meters, converted it into a vessel with 50 tourist cabins and capable of transporting tourists to the North Pole.

The "heart" of the Yamal icebreaker is two sealed water-cooled reactors OK-900A, which contain 245 fuel rods with enriched uranium. The full load of nuclear fuel is about 500 kilograms, this reserve is sufficient for the continuous operation of the icebreaker for 5 years. Each nuclear reactor weighs about 160 tons and is housed in a pressurized compartment, fenced off from the rest of the ship's structure by layers of steel, water and high-density concrete. Around the reactor compartment and throughout the ship, there are 86 sensors measuring radiation levels.

The steam power boilers of the reactors produce superheated high-pressure steam that drives turbines that drive 12 electric generators. Power from the generators is fed to electric motors that rotate the blades of the icebreaker's three propellers. The engine power of each propeller is 25 thousand horsepower or 55.3 MW. Using this power, the Yamal icebreaker can move through the 2.3 meter thick ice at a speed of 3 knots. Despite the fact that the maximum thickness of ice through which an icebreaker can pass is 5 meters, there have been recorded cases of the icebreaker breaking through ice hummocks with a thickness of 9 meters.

The hull of the Yamal icebreaker is a double hull covered with a special polymer material that reduces friction. The thickness of the upper layer of the hull in the place of ice cutting is 48 millimeters, and in other places - 30 millimeters. The water ballast system, located between the two layers of the icebreaker's hull, allows the additional weight to be concentrated at the front of the vessel, which acts as an additional ram. If the power of the icebreaker is not enough to cut through the ice, then an air bubble system is connected, which throws 24 cubic meters of air per second under the surface of the ice and breaks it from below.

The design of the cooling system for the reactors of the Yamal nuclear icebreaker is designed to use seawater with a maximum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. Therefore, this icebreaker and others like him will never be able to leave the northern seas and go to more southern latitudes.

Original taken from masterok in The largest icebreaker in the world

A nuclear icebreaker is a nuclear powered vessel built specifically for use in ice-covered waters throughout the year. Thanks to the nuclear plant, they are much more powerful than diesel ones and it is easier for them to conquer frozen water bodies. Unlike other ships, icebreakers have a clear advantage - they do not need to refuel, which is especially important in ice, where there is no way to get fuel.

It is also unusual that out of 10 existing nuclear icebreakers in the world, all were built and then launched on the territory of the USSR and Russia. Their indispensability was shown by the operation that took place in 1983. About 50 vessels, including several diesel-powered icebreakers, were trapped in an ice trap in the east of the Arctic. And only with the help of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" they were able to free themselves from captivity, delivering cargo to nearby villages.

The world's largest icebreaker is 50 Years of Victory. It was laid down at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1989, and four years later it was launched. True, the construction did not end, but was frozen due to financial troubles. Only in 2003 it was decided to resume it, and in February 2007, "50 Years of Victory" began to undergo tests in the Gulf of Finland, which lasted a couple of weeks. Then he independently went to the port of registration - the city of Murmansk. Let's take a closer look at the history of the icebreaker:
1

50 Let Pobedy is the eighth nuclear-powered icebreaker built at the Baltic Shipyard and is currently the largest in the world. The icebreaker is a modernized project of the second series of nuclear-powered icebreakers of the "Arktika" type. "50 Years of Victory" is a largely experimental project. The vessel used a spoon-shaped bow, first used in the development of the Canadian experimental icebreaker Canmar Kigoriyak in 1979 and convincingly proved its effectiveness during trial operation. The icebreaker is equipped with a new generation digital automatic control system. The complex of biological protection means of a nuclear power plant was modernized, which underwent re-certification in accordance with the requirements of Gostekhnadzor. An ecological compartment was also created, equipped with the latest equipment for the collection and disposal of all waste products of the vessel.
2

During the period from 1974 to 1989, a series of second-generation nuclear icebreakers were built in the Soviet Union (project 10520 and modernized project 10521). The lead ship of this series - the nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika of Project 10520 - was laid down on July 3, 1971, and already on December 26, 1972, launched, and on April 25, 1975, put into operation.

On October 4, 1989 in Leningrad, on the slipway of the Baltic Shipyard named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze, an icebreaker of project 10521 was laid down, under the original name "Ural".

And although in the USSR the nuclear submarines were completely handed over in three or four years, it took Ural four years just to launch it, due to the then situation in the country's leadership and in the country as a whole.

It was expected that the ship would enter service in the mid-1990s, however, due to lack of funding, the construction of the icebreaker was suspended and the huge ship remained at the berth, only 72% ready.

The Baltic shipyard was forced to mothball the icebreaker at its own expense in order to preserve the possibility of its completion in the future.

Even the renaming of the icebreaker did not help to renew funding.

On August 4, 1995, on the eve of the visit of the then President of Russia to St. Petersburg and to the enterprise too, the nuclear-powered ship was renamed "50 Years of Victory".

For many years of useless downtime at the berth of the "Baltiysky Zavod", several times it was proposed to saw and dispose of the ship, but it literally miraculously avoided it.

Some of its units had developed their own guaranteed resource, although the ship did not make a single voyage.

In the late 1990s, when partial financing of construction began, work on the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker was resumed.

On October 31, 2002, government decree No. 1528-r was issued, according to which the completion of the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker was planned to be completed in 2003-2005. To complete the work, 2.5 billion rubles were allocated from the state budget.

Until 2003, the construction of the icebreaker was financed on a general basis within the framework of the federal targeted investment program, and since 2003 - in accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2002 No. 1528-r.

In February 2003, the construction of the icebreaker entered an active phase, after:

Baltiyskiy Zavod entered the structure of the shipbuilding assets of the United Industrial Corporation (OPK);

a contract for the completion of the ship was signed between OJSC “Baltiysky Zavod” and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Directorate of the State Customer of Sea Transport Development Programs”;

public funds were allocated.

According to the signed contract, financing of the completion of the nuclear-powered ship in 2003-2005 was to be carried out at the expense of the federal budget. The quality of construction work on the icebreaker was to be controlled by representatives of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and the Murmansk Shipping Company.

On August 13, 2004, at a meeting in the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, it was decided to increase funding for the construction of an icebreaker in the amount of 742.3 million rubles, of which 164 million were planned to be allocated to the 2005 budget and 578.3 million rubles - to the 2006 budget. The need for additional funding was caused by new requirements for ensuring nuclear safety in accordance with the requirements of Gosatomnadzor and the performance of work related to the long term of the ship's construction. In particular, funds were needed for the design and manufacture of the latest multichannel safety systems for the reactor, as well as for the re-examination and revision of equipment and mechanisms.

On September 7, 2004, the icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy was towed to the dock of the Kronstadt Marine Plant. After that, the specialists of the Baltic Shipyard for the first time in the history of domestic shipbuilding carried out dock works on the icebreaker under construction. Previously, docking of nuclear-powered ships was carried out only after several years of work and only at shipbuilding enterprises located in the Murmansk region.

Taking into account that the underwater systems and devices were installed on the icebreaker in the early 1990s, during the completion of the ship, it was necessary to check their operability. The most time consuming operation was the revision of the stern tube device, which is the support of the propeller shaft and is designed to prevent the penetration of seawater into the icebreaker's hull. For his examination, experts dismantled the propeller and propeller shaft. The work at the dock took 2 months. For the successful implementation of these works, the plant independently designed and manufactured special equipment. The serviceability of the stern tube device was a prerequisite for the start of mooring tests on the icebreaker.

The vessel also examined: the right line of the propeller shaft, bottom-side fittings, systems of pipelines and bottom fittings protectors, electronic navigation devices, anode units and comparison electrodes of cathodic protection. In addition, the company's specialists washed the outer skin of the underwater part of the icebreaker, bottom boxes and branch pipes of bottom-side fittings at the dock. Dock works were supervised by representatives of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and the Murmansk Shipping Company.

At the end of October 2004, after the completion of the dock works, the icebreaker was returned to the Baltic shipyard.

The hull, superstructure and stern mast of the vessel were fully formed, the installation of the main mechanical and electrical equipment was completed.

On November 31, 2004, a fire broke out on board the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker moored at the quay wall of the Baltic Shipyard. It started at 08:45 on one of the upper decks where welders were working. The flames quickly spread across the deck, littered with building materials. A huge smoke screen formed over the icebreaker.

The firefighters, who arrived on alert, first of all began to evacuate the workers, some of whom had managed to ingest carbon monoxide. In total, firefighters took 52 people out of the burning ship. Only after finishing with the evacuation, they began to search for fires. According to preliminary data, it was located on the third and fourth decks, where builders stored combustible building materials. The total area of \u200b\u200bfire was, according to various estimates, from 50 to 100 square meters. m. Nevertheless, extinguishing was carried out according to the third number of complexity (out of five possible) - about 22 fire brigades (112 firefighters) were pulled to the icebreaker. According to the firefighters, this was due both to the need for mass evacuation of workers and to the fact that ship fires are considered one of the most difficult: they are always difficult to extinguish because of strong smoke, the complex layout of the ship's rooms and the abundance of open holds.

At eleven o'clock in the afternoon, firefighters announced that the spread of the fire had been contained. However, the extinguishing continued until the evening - at 18:00 the premises were still being poured on the icebreaker.

The extinguishing participants believed that the cause of the fire was most likely negligence of workers or a short circuit. The version of arson was not even considered in the foreground: according to the participants in the extinguishing, the Baltic Shipyard has a very strict access control and the penetration of unauthorized persons onto the icebreaker is practically impossible.

The threat of radiation contamination was out of the question, since the installation mounted on the icebreaker had not yet been filled with nuclear fuel.

As stated by the press service of the Baltic Shipyard, the consequences of the fire will not affect the delivery time of the vessel to the customer. But it is much more likely that the icebreaker will not be built on time for financial reasons. Back in October 2004, at a meeting of the Maritime Council under the government of St. Petersburg, such concerns were expressed by the head of the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport. According to him, in 2005 the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation agreed to finance only 10% of the cost of the work.

Following a meeting on the socio-economic development of the Far East, held on September 18, 2005 in Vladivostok, the head of the Ministry of Transport announced that the nuclear icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" would be completed by the end of 2006.

In the course of completing the construction of the icebreaker, specialists from the Baltic Shipyard carried out an operation to load nuclear fuel, thanks to which nuclear-powered ships have an almost unlimited cruising range without refueling.

On October 28, 2006, the state commission signed an act on the readiness of the Baltic Shipyard for the physical launch of nuclear reactors of the icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy". Reactor installations were developed by FSUE OKBM.

In November 2006, the physical start-up of nuclear reactors and their output to the power level took place, after which complex mooring tests began.

In 2006 and in the first quarter of 2007 - financing of work on the icebreaker was carried out at the expense of the circulating assets of Baltiysky Zavod OJSC and loans from commercial banks.

On January 17, 2007, the Baltic Shipyard completed complex mooring tests on the nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy.

On January 31, 2007, the St. Petersburg JSC Baltiyskiy Zavod, a member of the United Industrial Corporation, began state sea trials of the nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy.

From the water area of \u200b\u200bthe Neva, where maneuvering possibilities are limited for such large vessels, the vessel was withdrawn with the help of tugs. In the seaport of St. Petersburg, the icebreaker was loaded with supplies of fuel, fresh and feed water, after which it went out to the Baltic Sea on its own.

On open water, the icebreaker was tested for speed and maneuverability. We also checked the operability of navigation and communication systems, desalination plant, steering, anti-icing and anchor devices and other equipment that could not be tested off the coast.

The tests were carried out under the supervision of a state commission. It included representatives of the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, Gostekhnadzor, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, OJSC Murmansk Shipping Company, RRC Kurchatov Institute, FSUE OKBM, OJSC Central Design Bureau Aisberg and others. organizations.

On February 17, 2007, the state sea trials were successfully completed. The icebreaker showed high maneuverability and reliability. The State Commission confirmed the strict compliance of the quality of the ship's systems and mechanisms with domestic standards and international norms.

On March 23, 2007, Baltiyskiy Zavod OJSC handed over to the customer the world's largest icebreaker, 50 Let Pobedy. After the official ceremony of signing the acceptance certificate, the state flag of the Russian Federation was raised on the ship in a solemn atmosphere.

With the signing of the acceptance certificate, the ship became part of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet, at the same time becoming state property. Rosimushchestvo, in turn, by order of the government of the Russian Federation, transferred the new nuclear-powered ship to the trust management of OJSC Murmansk Shipping Company.

On April 2, 2007, the icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" left the shipyard in St. Petersburg and entered the Baltic Sea, heading for its permanent home port - Murmansk.

On April 11, 2007, "50 Years of Victory" successfully completed the passage from St. Petersburg, entered the Kola Bay and embarked on a roadstead near its home port. The solemn meeting ceremony took place on the same day on the territory of FSUE Atomflot in Murmansk.

The meeting of the crew and the world's largest icebreaker brought together representatives of the executive and legislative authorities of Murmansk and the Murmansk region, Federal executive authorities, veterans and workers of the nuclear fleet of the Murmansk Shipping Company.

The captain of the icebreaker reported to the Director General of the Murmansk Shipping Company about the successful completion of the crossing and the readiness of the crew to perform important state tasks on the route of the Northern Sea Route and in the Russian Arctic.

The fact that the construction of the icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" is nevertheless completed, and it arrived at the port of registration, testifies that the country has finally realized the role and significance of the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic, for the realization of its strategic interests, and is starting to restoration of infrastructure.

The first working voyage to the Northern Sea Route was planned for the end of April 2007.

It is expected that the pilotage of transport cargo ships along the Northern Sea Route is the first stage of operation of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy". At the second stage, the work of the icebreaker will probably be associated with the extraction of hydrocarbons on the Arctic shelf, the nuclear vessel will be engaged in servicing the production platforms and escorting transport vessels with hydrocarbons in the ice.

In addition, 50 Let Pobedy replaced the nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, the first built icebreaker of this class. The permitted service life of its nuclear power plant ended in 2008. The icebreaker "Arktika" has worked out 175 thousand hours - this is the maximum permitted service life, and in this regard, the entry into service of the new nuclear-powered ship was very timely.

At the end of June 2007, the icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" was in the Barents Sea near the Cape of Hope of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, where it was supposed to take under escort two transport vessels and lead them through the ice to the Yenisei Gulf. In fact, this was the first ice test of a newcomer to the Arctic routes. His crew had to check the operation of a nuclear power plant, equipment and mechanisms in sailing in difficult natural conditions. Only after passing this exam could the nuclear-powered ship go to permanent work in the Arctic waters.

On July 03, 2007, the nuclear-powered ship "50 Let Pobedy" successfully completed its first pilotage of ships bound for the port of Dudinka. Accompanied by the world's largest nuclear-powered icebreaker, the ships crossed the ice from Cape Zhelaniya on Novaya Zemlya to the Yenisei Gulf. The swimming took place as usual

On June 25, 2008, "50 Years of Victory" embarked on its maiden voyage to the North Pole. There were about 100 tourists on board who wanted to take part in a two-week sightseeing tour.

In March 2008, FSUE Atomflot became part of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, based on the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation “On measures to establish the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom” (No. 369 dated March 20, 2008).

On August 27, 2008, in Murmansk, an act was signed on the completion of measures for the transfer of the icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" and other ships with a nuclear power plant, as well as nuclear technological service ships from the trust management of OJSC "Murmansk Shipping Company" to the economic management of FSUE "Atomflot" ". It was on this day that the agreement on trust management of the nuclear icebreaker fleet expired, which was concluded by the government of the Russian Federation with the Murmansk Shipping Company and was in effect since 1998. At this stage, it was considered expedient to transfer the federal property to the ownership of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, which performs state functions for the development of the nuclear industry in the Russian Federation.

The icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy is a modernized project of the second series of nuclear-powered icebreakers of the Arktika type. The icebreaker is equipped with a new generation digital automatic control system and a modern complex of means for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety of a nuclear power plant. The nuclear powered vessel is equipped with the Anti-Terror protection system, equipped with an ecological compartment with the latest equipment for collection and disposal of waste generated during the operation of the vessel.

The length of the vessel is 159 meters, width - 30 meters, total displacement - 25 thousand tons, speed - 18 nautical knots. The maximum ice thickness that the icebreaker breaks is 2.8 meters. It is equipped with two nuclear power plants. The ship's crew includes 138 people.

TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL DATA

A type: Nuclear icebreaker

State: Russia

Home port: Murmansk

Class: KM (*) LL1 A

IMO number: 9152959

Call sign: UGYU

Manufacturer: JSC "Baltic Plant"

Length: 159.6 m

Width: 30 m

Height: 17.2 m (board height)

Average draft: 11 m

Power point: 2 nuclear reactors

Screws: 3 fixed pitch propellers with 4 removable blades

Displacement: 25 thousand tons

Power: 75,000 l. with.

Maximum speed in clear water:21 sea knots

Speed \u200b\u200bin solid fast ice 2.7 meters thick:2 knots

Estimated maximum ice thickness: 2.8 m

Swimming autonomy:7.5 months (for provisions)

Crew: 138 people. Reduced to 106 after a series of cuts

Flag:RF

Mailing address: 183038, Murmansk 580, a / l "50 years of Victory"

Shipowner: FSUE "Atomflot" of the state corporation "Rosatom"

This nuclear-powered icebreaker is a modernized project of the second series of the Arctic-class icebreaker, which includes 6 out of 10 built vessels. The thickness of the ice that the floating craft can overcome is 2.8 m. It has many differences from its predecessor, for example, here it was decided to use a spoon-shaped "nose", which showed itself remarkably in tests of the prototype of the Canadian icebreaker "Canmar Kigoriyak". In addition, there is a modernized complex of biological protection means of a nuclear power plant, a digital automatic control system of the latest generation, there is a special ecological compartment, which is equipped with equipment designed to collect and dispose of all waste products of the floating craft.

Meanwhile, "50 Years of Victory" is not always engaged in rescuing other ships from captivity. In fact, it is also geared towards Arctic cruises. So, you can personally go to the North Pole by paying a certain amount for a ticket. Since there are no passenger cabins as such, tourists are accommodated in the cabins of the ship. But on board there is its own restaurant, swimming pool, sauna, gym.

In the near future, the importance of such icebreakers will only increase. Indeed, in the future, a more active development of natural resources that are under the bottom of the Arctic Ocean is planned.

Navigation on certain sections of the Northern Sea Route lasts only two to four months. The rest of the time the water is covered with ice, the thickness of which sometimes reaches 3 meters. In order not to waste extra fuel and not to risk the crew and the ship once again, helicopters or reconnaissance planes are sent from the icebreakers to find an easier way through the openings.

Icebreakers are specially painted dark red so that they are clearly visible in the white ice.

The largest icebreaker in the world, can autonomously cruise in the Arctic Ocean for a year, breaking up ice up to 3 meters thick with its bow, shaped like a spoon.

Nuclear icebreakers are being built only in Russia. Only our country has such a long contact with the Arctic Ocean. The famous Northern Sea Route, 5600 km long, runs along the northern shores of our country. It starts at the Kara Gates and ends at Providence Bay. For example, if you move from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok by this sea route, the distance will be 14,280 km. And if you choose the path through the Suez Canal, then the distance will be more than 23 thousand km.

Let's take a look at the insides of the Icebreaker.

Let's take a closer look at the history of the icebreaker:

"50 Let Pobedy" is the eighth nuclear-powered icebreaker built at the Baltic Shipyard and currently the largest in the world. The icebreaker is a modernized project of the second series of nuclear-powered icebreakers of the "Arktika" type. "50 Years of Victory" is a largely experimental project. The vessel uses a spoon-shaped bow, which was first used in the development of the Canadian experimental icebreaker "Canmar Kigoriyak" in 1979 and has convincingly proved its effectiveness during trial operation. The icebreaker is equipped with a new generation digital automatic control system. The complex of biological protection means of a nuclear power plant has been modernized, which has passed re-certification in accordance with the requirements of Gostekhnadzor. An ecological compartment was also created, equipped with the latest equipment for the collection and disposal of all waste products of the vessel.