Russian state-owned energy company Rosatom has confirmed that construction of Russia's two newest nuclear-powered icebreakers is ahead of schedule.
Rosatom said in a press release that two Project 22220 icebreakers are under various stages of construction with Chukotka (Чукотка) now being 85.5 per cent complete and sister ship Leningrad (Ленинград) being 31.45 per cent complete. The company had set completion targets of 85.1 per cent and 30.05 per cent, respectively, for the two ships by May 2026.
The keel of the future Stalingrad (Сталинград), another icebreaker from the same series, was laid only last November.
Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev remarked that loading of Chukotka's nuclear fuel is scheduled to begin within this week and will be completed by June.
The Project 22220 vessels are the largest icebreakers ever built with each one measuring more than 173 metres long and displacing approximately 33,000 tonnes.
Even with the icebreakers' size, their draughts can be adjusted anywhere from 8.65 to 10.5 metres through the taking in and the discharge of ballast water. This enables the Project 22220 vessels to navigate safely whether along the Northern Sea Route that connects the Atlantic and the Pacific or on the many shallow estuaries found throughout the Russian Arctic.