Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreaker

Russia’s plans to build the world’s biggest nuclear-powered icebreaker could attract more trade to the country, says a leading UK analyst.

The new ship is meant to be more efficient at breaking ice and able to navigate in deep Arctic waters as well as shallow Siberian rivers.

This could attract more foreign commercial ships, says Matthew Willis of defence think tank Rusi.

Russia is the only country with a nuclear icebreaker fleet.

The state nuclear power corporation, Rosatom, signed a contract for the construction of the new generation icebreaker LK-60 on 23 August.

The vessel will be built at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in St Petersburg, and is planned to be completed by the end of 2017.

It will be 173m (568ft) long and 34m (112ft) wide, about 14m longer and 4m wider than the current biggest icebreaker, and will operate on the Northern Sea Route.

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Article written by Katia Moskvitch, courtesy of The BBC.