Zio-Podolsk, a subsidiary of ROSATOM, has completed the welding of four hydrochambers to the reactor body of the Ural nuclear-powered icebreaker. 

Announcing the milestone on 30 July, Zio-Podolsk said this was “the most complex technological welding operation” in the manufacture of the reactor vessel, taking a full 17 days. Ural is one of three vessels of Project 22220 — featuring RITM-200 reactors — that will be able to break through ice 3 meters thick as they escort vessels across the Arctic Ocean. The others are Arktika and Sibir. 

Arktika was the first nuclear icebreaker to be fully built in modern-day Russia. It was launched at the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg in June last year. Arktika is expected to enter first operational service in mid-2019. Sibir and Ural are scheduled for delivery in 2020 and in 2021, respectively.