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Nuclear icebreaker returns to Arctic after refit

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MURMANSK, April 4 (RIA Novosti) - The nuclear powered icebreaker Rossiya will go to sea after extensive modernization, the Murmansk Shipping Company (MSC) said Wednesday.

The Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, operated by the MSC, currently consists of five Arktika-class icebreakers (Arktika, Sibir, Rossiya, Sovetskiy Soyuz and Yamal), and two Taimyr-class river icebreakers (Taimyr and Vaigach).

The company said the refit had taken three and a half years and involved the replacement of six out of eight steam generating units, among other things.

"NS Rossiya [Project 10521-1, 2?OK-900 reactors, 171MW each, 52MW propulsive power] has become the fourth out of eight nuclear-powered icebreakers that had the lifespan of their steam generating units extended. This will help extend the operation of [Russia's] icebreaking fleet until 2015," a company spokesman said.

NS 50 Let Pobedy [50 Years of Victory], the world's largest nuclear-powered icebreaker, under construction since 1989 at the Baltiisky Zavod shipyard, was put to sea Monday.

An upgrade of the Arktika-class icebreaker, 159-meter (522-foot) long and 30-meter (100-foot) wide, with a deadweight of 25,000 metric tons, can break through ice up to 2.8 meters deep (9.2 feet) and has a 138-man crew.

Experts said Russia would need six to 10 nuclear-powered icebreakers in the next 20 years, as demand for them grows with the development of the Arctic shelf and increased traffic along the Northern Sea route.

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