Project 10510 Lider LK-110Ya - Program
The design of an ice-class attack vessel was being discussed with the military, Valery Polovinkin, adviser to the Krilov State Research Center, specializing in research into sophisticated maritime equipment, told Izvestia daily 28 July 2016. It is likely that the ship will have a lot in common with the Leader project, a new-generation of Russian nuclear-powered super-icebreakers expected to enter the design phase in 2016.
The design of the nuclear icebreaker-leader will take about 3 years. "The technical project will last for about two years, after that it is possible to start the development of working design documentation (...) Years after eight or nine you can expect an icebreaker of this type ",-A. Ryzhkov.
As of 2006 it was planned that a nuclear Project LK-110 super-icebreaker with a capacity of 110 MWe was planned to enter operation by 2017. It would be able to go through 3-3.5 m of ice, and its main mission would be to lead convoys from Europe to the Pacific on a year-round basis. The design of a typical icebreaker leaves no place for deployment of modern military hardware, such as radar and missile complexes, so an ice-class warship needs to be designed independently, keeping in mind specific hardware to be installed onboard to ensure its military capabilities.
«The recent exercises of the Armed forces on landing on the Kotelny island in the Arctic with the support of the Northern fleet showed that even with the support of the icebreaker fleet of conventional warships are unable to operate freely in the Arctic,» said Polovinkin. According to him, the shock of the ice class vessels that can join the group will be able to carry artillery and missile weapons. «The face of domestic impact of ship ice class is still under discussion with the military. But we can already say that much he will take from the new icebreaker LK-110Ya «Leader», — said Polovinkin.
The CEO and chief constructor at the Center’s subsidiary developing Leader project, Aleksandr Ryzhkov, believes the new 205-meter-long super-icebreaker, powered by two 60 MWt RITM-400 next-generation nuclear reactors will have excessive power “to cross the North Pole in any direction, any time of the year, in any ice condition [thickness].” The icebreaker’s power plant will have unprecedented operating capacity of crashing through 2-meter-thick ice at a speed of 14 knots, which is seven times faster than the nuclear icebreakers operating today. “At a slower speed it will go through ice 4.5 meters thick,” Ryzhkov told Izvestia. “For navigating vessels on the traditional routes along the shore this is excessive.”
The design of Leader Icebreaker being developed by Krylov State Research Center is to be completed by the end of 2015. Joint Stock Company "Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering" (Afrikantov OKBM) is one of the leading design and production centers of atomic power engineering. Krylov State Research Center is Russia’s largest scientific research organization of the national shipbuilding sector focused on conceptual and workshop designs of naval ships, merchant vessels and offshore structures as well as on their operation and disposal.
The construction of Russia's most powerful new-generation Lider-class nuclear icebreaker is expected to begin in 2019, Vitaly Gorbik, the United Shipbuilding Corporation's (USC) spokesman, said 21 February 2017. "The construction of the vessel is expected to begin in 2019," Gorbik said.
Russia will proceed with building the new nuclear-powered Lider icebreaker but the timing may shift, including due to budget constraints, Russian President Vladimir Putin said 15 May 2017. Russia's Atomflot state enterprise planned to commence the construction of the icebreaker by 2023. Earlier in April 2017, Russia's Ministry of Economic Development suggested to allocate 80 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) less for the icebreaker construction. "We have a plan for assembling an icebreaker fleet, both nuclear-powered and with other modern engines, and it will continue, it can stretch over time," Putin told reporters answering the question if the icebreaker would be financed. The president added that the delay may take place due to many reasons, including the lack of budgetary funding.
In the fall of 2018, Novatek and Rosatom signed a memorandum on the formation of a joint venture to create a fleet of icebreakers on liquefied natural gas. The document establishes the parties' intentions to cooperate in the joint development, financing and implementation of a project to create a fleet of icebreakers for LNG to provide icebreaker assistance for the Novatek Arctic LNG projects in the freezing waters of the Northern Sea Route, as well as the construction of port fleet vessels and supplies.
In April 2019, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said that the cost of building the first atomic icebreaker of the new generation Leader with a capacity of 120 MW at the Zvezda plant in the Primorsky Territory will amount to 120 billion rubles. “The president decided that the first icebreaker“ Leader ”will be built on budgetary money,” he emphasized. Two years ago, the president of Rosatom reported to the government that the construction of the Leader without VAT and additional costs would cost the state 98.6 billion rubles. Prior to this, in 2017, the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Alexander Tsybulsky evaluatedthe construction of an icebreaker of approximately 70 billion rubles. It is assumed that the icebreaker will provide navigation along the Northern Sea Route connecting the ports of Northeast Asia and Northern Europe.
The contract for the construction of the nuclear icebreaker "Leader" between the state corporation Rosatom and the shipbuilding complex Zvezda will be signed in the near future. The plant’s management confirms the commissioning of the icebreaker at a previously agreed time - 2026-2027, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, told reporters 18 July 2019. “As for the icebreaker Leader, from 2026-2027, this is confirmed by the leadership of the Zvezda. We will now sign the contract,” said Likhachev.
It is expected that the icebreaker "Leader" with a capacity of 120 MW will be the first in the world to be able to navigate ships along the Northern Sea Route all year round with ice thickness up to four meters. Earlier, in an interview with TASS, Likhachev said that Rosatom estimates the cost of building the first atomic icebreaker, the new generation Leader, at 120 billion rubles in 2019 prices. The Ministry of Industry and Trade noted that the marginal cost is 127.5 billion rubles.
However, he did not specify at what shipyard four LNG icebreakers could be built for sinking from the Ob Bay to the Kara Sea, the construction of which is being discussed by Rosatom with Novatek. “We have not finished the discussion with Novatek on this,” the head of Rosatom noted.
The government in the period from 2020 to 2027 will allocate 127 billion rubles from the federal budget. for the construction of a new generation nuclear icebreaker "Leader". The corresponding decree of January 15, signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, is published on the official Internet portal of legal information. Vedomosti drew attention to the document . The publication writes that this is one of the last decisions Medvedev signed as prime minister.
It is estimated that in 2020, 16.9 billion rubles will be allocated from the budget, and in 1221 and 2022, 12.7 billion rubles each. accordingly, in 2023 - 14.9 billion, in 2024 and 2025 - another 17.9 billion, and at the last stage, in 2026 and 2027 - each 17.1 billion rubles. The total amount of investments in the project of the atomic icebreaker is 127 billion 576 million 979 thousand rubles.
As follows from the government decree, the state-owned corporation Rosatom is the customer for the construction of the Leader, and the developer is the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Atomflot. The completion of the construction of the project 10510 icebreaker with a capacity of 120 MW, according to the documentation, is planned for 2027, then it should be fully commissioned.
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