OREANDA-NEWS. May 6, 2009. Russia’s first nuclear icebreaker arrived at the port at 05:05 AM after a short overnight voyage from the base of the nuclear icebreaking fleet in the north of Murmansk. This is just the first stage of the project to put “Lenin” for eternal anchorage. In the coming few months the ship will be repaired and turned into a museum.

In 2008 the civil fleet of Russia was placed under the management of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation.

During the ceremony of the first moorage of “Lenin” Director General of Atomflot FSUE Vyacheslav Ruksha said that the project was being implemented according to the schedule. “Lenin” will be turned into an Information Center and a Museum of the Arctic Region and the Development of the Northern Sea Route.

The construction of “Lenin” nuclear icebreaker was started on Aug 24 1956. The ship was launched in Aug 1959. In Sept-Dec 1959 it underwent a sea trial in the Gulf of Finland and was officially accepted for service on Dec 3 1959. Since then this day has been marked as the birthday of the national nuclear icebreaking fleet.

“Lenin” operated for 30 years. During this period it escorted a total of 3,741 transport ships and icebreakers and passed a total of 654,000 sea miles (563,000 in the ice) – which is equivalent to 30 world cruises.