OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2010.   Marine Collegium members supported the idea of new icebreakers’ construction for the Arctic Region. The project of a modern nuclear-powered icebreaker, which is to appear in the Northern Sea Route in 2015–2016, has already been developed. This information was announced to journalists by RF Vice Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov after the collegium meeting in Murmansk city on Saturday.

“There is a project of a modern icebreaker, which complies with all latest world standards. We know that the USA together with Canada is constructing such an icebreaker for the two countries. We will try to construct it with no outside help, and it will have larger displacement. We need it in 2015–2016; and we shall start the construction right now – all collegium members have supported exactly this way of nuclear icebreaker fleet development,” Ivanov said.

He added that at the moment all icebreakers, managed by Rosatom State Corporation, were in operation at sea. “On Saturday the “Russia” nuclear-power vessel will go on the expedition for disembarkation at the SP-38 drifting station. It proves the existence of a large scope of works in the Arctic Region,” Ivanov noted.

“This year the Sovcomflot vessel (Modern Commercial Fleet) has went through the Northern Sea Route and almost proved that summer navigation freight hauling is not only possible, but also cost-effective. We hope that next year Russian designed vessels will use the route for cargo transfer, and it will be a significant event,” Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government stressed.