Polar Silk Road (icebreaker)
In 2018 China announced plans to build a nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Polar Silk Road.[1][2] The vessel is said to be similar to Russia's Arktika class of nuclear-powered icebreakers.[3]
Only Russia and the former Soviet Union had built nuclear-powered icebreakers. China's previous two ice-breakers, both named Xue Long, are conventionally powered.[2]
The vessel will be powered by two 25 Megawatt nuclear reactors, and is projected to cost approximately 1 billion yuan.[3]
Some sources assert that China's Polar Silk Road plan call for China to build a new conventionally powered Polar Class icebreaker in addition to a nuclear powered icebreaker.[4] China is also planning to build an ice-protected heavy-lift semi-submersible vessel. It would be used to carry and install drilling platforms for petroleum extraction.
See also
References
- ↑ Trym Aleksander Eiterjord. China’s Planned Nuclear Icebreaker, The Diplomat, 2018-07-17. Retrieved on 2021-11-13. “Arrangements for the construction of a nuclear icebreaker seem to have started in 2016 when CNNC and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) signed a cooperation agreement on advancing the country’s civilian application of maritime nuclear power.”
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lyle J. Goldstein. China Is Building Nuclear Icebreakers To Seek Out A "Polar Silk Road", National Interest, 2020-03-16. Retrieved on 2021-11-13.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Thomas Nilsen. Details of China’s nuclear-powered icebreaker revealed, Barent's Observer, 2019-03-21. Retrieved on 2021-11-13. “With those specifications, China’s first nuclear-powered icebreaker will be 2 meters longer and a few thousand tons heavier than Russia’s current Arktika-class icebreakers, but somewhat smaller than Russia’s new fleet of icebreakers of the Project 22220 of which there are currently three under construction at the Baltiskiy Shipyard in St. Petersburg.”
- ↑ Jeremy Greenwood. Opinion: The Polar Silk Road Will be Cleared With Chinese Icebreakers, Maritime Executive, 2021-11-22. Retrieved on 2021-11-23. “Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Transport has announced that they will develop a new heavy icebreaker and a new heavy-lift semi-submersible vessel capable of salvaging and rescuing vessels in the Arctic. This would supplement their two existing icebreakers and be in addition to reports of their development of a nuclear-powered icebreaker.”