Nuclear icebreaker operator Atomflot, due to receive Project 22220 icebreaker Arktika (LK-60) with a rated capacity of 60 megawatt, will have to build a coastal maintenance facility to service the ship, Deputy Atomflot General Director and Chief Engineer Mustafa Kashka told Interfax.

Work is now underway to upgrade the company's ship repair facilities in Murmansk, and new transshipment equipment worth 1.3 billion rubles has been ordered for the LK-60.

"We have signed a contract with the Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering, and our company has also inked another contract for transhipment equipment to be delivered in late 2018 or early 2019," Kashka said.

A dry dock construction tender has also been announced, and the project is to be implemented in 2016-2017.

"Total funding is about 500 million rubles, and the project is to be completed by late 2017," he added.

The issue of funding sources remains unresolved, and Atomflot has no specialized dock, either its own or a leased dock that can accommodate the new icebreaker with its 34-meter beam.

Kashka said Atomflot will receive eight new vessels by 2020, including three LK-60 icebreakers. The Arktika, the first ship in the series, was laid down in 2013. The second LK-60, the Sibir, was laid down in 2015, and the keel of the Ural will be laid this year. There are plans to commission these icebreakers in 2017, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Each Project 22220 icebreaker is 173.3 meters long, has a 34-meter beam, an 8.55-meter minimal operational waterline draft and displaces 33,540 metric tons. These double-draft icebreakers have two-reactor propulsion units. Their 175-megawatt Ritm-200 propulsion units are equipped with steam generators. The ships can operate in Arctic waters and in the estuaries of local rivers.