The spokesman for the company explained that in 1992, when the use of the iceboat ended, "methods to replace the inside of steam generators did not exist."
"Now they have appeared for this type of iceboats and their service life will now be prolonged to 175,000 hours," he said.
"The Murmansk Sea Shipping Company has developed such methods and tested them on the Vaigach nuclear ice-breaker," the interviewee continued.
In expert estimate, the Sibir overhaul will not cost more than 20 percent of the sum required to build a new nuclear iceboat. In favor of its rehabilitation is the fact that, since commissioning in 1978, the Sibir reactor plant has worked about 100,000 hours, which meets the designed figure.
In the opinion of the company's specialists, the Sibir renovated nuclear power plant will ensure reliable navigation on the Northern Sea Route with its freight flow increasing year on year.
The fleet of nuclear iceboats is in federal ownership passed to the trust management of the Murmansk Sea Shipping Company. All the civilian nuclear-powered vessels are based at Atomflot two kilometers north of Murmansk on the Kola peninsula.
The goal set to nuclear iceboats (their manufacture began in 1959) was large-scale development and industrialization of the Soviet northern provinces. After the collapse of the USSR, activities in the northern regions have ebbed and state support for the ice-breaker fleet has been minimized, forcing the Murmansk Sea Shipping Company to earn money from cruises to the North pole aboard ice-breakers.
Things became stabilized in the late 1990s with the reinvigoration of the Norilsk Nickel Concern, one of Russia's largest exporters of primary materials, and the state's budgetary allocations.
Today Russia has six nuclear iceboats and one nuclear lighter-carrier in service. The newest iceboat, he Yamal, was commissioned in 1992. The world's first iceboat, the Lenin, was removed from service in 1989.
The Arktika is undergoing overhaul in a bid to prolong the service life of its steam-generators to 175,000 hours (initially it was 100,000 hours). Theoretically, it can be extended to 200,000 hours, increasing the vessel's life from 25 to 30-35 years. Last February the Vaigach was put to repairs and its steam-generator was replaced. The Murmansk company believes that the experience gained can be put to use for putting back on stream The Sibir ice-breaker. But, specialists say, all these efforts can retain the iceboats in use in the Arctic region only until 2012-2015.
