Russia’s first serial project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreaker known as Sibir, was handed over to state atomic energy corporation Rosatom for exploitation on Friday.
“On December 24, the ceremony of signing of the Delivery-Acceptance Act of the first serial uni-versal Project 22220 Sibir nuclear-powered ice-breaker took place in Baltic Shipyard, St. Peters-burg,” the corporation said in a statement.
After necessary documents are completed and preparations for the winter-spring navigation are made, the icebreaker will leave St. Petersburg for the port of Murmansk, according to the statement.
The keel laying of the ship took place on May 26, 2015, and the icebreaker was floated on Sep-tember 22, 2017. Universal nuclear-powered icebreakers Ural, Yakutia, and Chukotka are currently under construc-tion at Baltic Shipyard too, with all of them named after Russia’s regions.
Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreakers are to date the most powerful and the largest in the world. The ships ensure Russia’s leading position in the Arctic. The icebreaker is 173.3 meters (568.6 feet) long and 34 meters broad with a 33,500-tonne displacement.
Russia is breaking historical records for energy consumption for the third day in a row, amid the onset of cold weather, according to the Russian Power System Operator (RPSO) data released on Friday.
The previous record was logged by the Russian Power System was in December 2012. According to the RPSO, the figure recorded on December 21, 2012 was exceeded by 3,993 MW on Friday.
According to RPSO data, as of Friday 11 a.m. the power consumption was 161,418 MW, the maxi-mum was reached while national average daily out-door temperature was -16.7C (1.9F).
Meanwhile, several Russian regions are experi-encing abnormally cold temperatures. On Friday, temperatures in Yakutia (Republic of Sakha) were ranging between -40C (-40F) and -55C (-67F). Moscow recently experienced its coldest December 22 in 73 years, with an average temperature hover-ing around -20C (-4F). —AP
