Rosatom to use mixed financing for 2 new nuclear icebreakers

ST. PETERSBURG, Dec 5 (PRIME) -- Russian state nuclear company Rosatom plans to use mixed financing to build two Arctic 22220 nuclear icebreakers, Director of the Department for Development of the Northern Sea Route Maxim Kulinko said at a forum on Wednesday.

“A decision to construct the fourth and the fifth 22220 icebreakers has already been made… We plan to get to conclusion of the contract next year… Mixed financing will be used for the first time, it will include 50% from the federal budget, and the rest from the company’s own funds and the market,” he said.

Rosatom’s plans envisage that Russia’s icebreaker fleet will consist of five multipurpose 60 megawatt (MW) nuclear icebreakers, three Leader icebreakers, four at least 40 MW gas-fueled icebreakers, and a 50 Years of Victory icebreaker in 2035.

Russia hopes the Northern Sea Route, which runs from Murmansk on the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait near Alaska, could substitute the Suez Canal by cutting the time of sea deliveries from Asia to Europe.

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