ST. PETERSBURG, October 31 (RIA Novosti - Northwest, Olga Vtorova) - The St. Petersburg Baltic Factory has begun dockside trials of the world's largest nuclear icebreaker, the company's press office said Monday.
The project to build the icebreaker was launched December 29, 1993 but was later suspended due to a lack of financing. Partial financing was resumed in the late 1990s.
The vessel, a modernized version of the Arktika series icebreakers, is the world's largest nuclear icebreaker measuring 150 meters in length (about 522 feet) and 30 meters in width (about 98 feet), with a displacement of 25,000 metric tons.
It is designed to break through ice as thick as 2.8 meters and will be ready for use in 2006.
