The nuclear-powered icebreaker Yakutia, under construction at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, was launched on Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony via video link. This is reported by TASS.

Yakutia is one of the new 22220 project universal nuclear-powered icebreakers, which are being built by Rosatom and are the largest and most powerful in the world. A total of five vessels will be built under the project, which has been running since 2013. The Arktika and the Sibir have already joined the Russian nuclear fleet.

According to Alexey Rakhmanov, Director General of United Shipbuilding Corporation, Yakutia already has the nuclear reactors and almost all major equipment installed and will continue to be completed on the water after its launch.

The technical project for the world's most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker was developed by the Aisberg Central Design Bureau in 2009, and three years later, Atomflot concluded a contract to build the first Project 22220 vessel. The journey from contract to commissioning of the project's lead nuclear-powered vessel, the Arktika, took eight years. Since 2020, the icebreaker has been providing reliable escort for ships along the North Sea Route.

The first production icebreaker to be built, based on the experience of the project's lead ship, was the Sibir. Since the beginning of 2022, the nuclear-powered icebreaker has also been carrying out navigation tasks on the North Sea Route. The third nuclear-powered icebreaker of Project 22220, the Ural, will start operating in the Arctic as early as December this year.

The design of the icebreakers allows them to navigate through ice up to three metres thick and guide caravans through inaccessible areas of the Eastern Arctic directly to ports in the Asia-Pacific region. The power of this project's nuclear-powered vessels is 60 MW, the length of the vessels is 173.3 m, the width is 34 m and the displacement is 33.5 thousand tons.

Yakutia is the fourth (third production) vessel of Project 22220. Once launched, the icebreaker will be completed on a special quay at the Baltic Shipyard. At the same time, construction of the fifth (fourth production) icebreaker, Chukotka, is continuing at the St. Petersburg plant. It is scheduled for commissioning in 2026.