Russia is Building the World's Largest Nuclear-Powered Icebreaker
A Russian Icebreaker Towing an American Supply Vessel in Antarctica, 2006 via WikimediaAs global warming softens ice in the arctic, Russia hopes to carve new sea lanes with the biggest 'universal' nuclear powered icebreaker the world has ever seen. Russia already has a huge fleet of both diesel-powered and even nuclear icebreakers, but it recently penned an order for something the world has never seen before: a massive new 558-foot long, dual-reactor nuclear icebreaker that will be 46 feet longer and at least a dozen feet wider than any other icebreaker in its fleet. Powered by two 60-megawatt compact pressurized water reactors, it will be the world's largest "universal" nuclear icebreaker. This isn't Russia's first foray into nuclear-powered seagoing vessels of course. The hulking next-gen icebreaker will be built by Rosatomflot, the builder of the rest of Russia's atomic fleet, which already includes about six nuclear powered icebreakers. The country is...