The Ministry of Industry and Trade has announced a contest to design a year-round nuclear-powered icebreaker for the Northern Sea Route. The maximum contract price is 749,985,000 rubles. According to RIA Novosti, the bid was posted on the government procurement website.

The contractor will be determined on October 6.

According to the ministry's documents, it is necessary to conduct a feasibility study, determine the cost, the duration and the lead time of mass production, and the tentative total cost of the life cycle of the prototype. It is also important to compare these specifications of the icebreaker with the top Russian and foreign equipment of that kind.

For the Northern Sea Route, Russia uses 35 diesel-electric and four nuclear-powered icebreakers. Currently, the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg is building three new all-purpose 60 MW nuclear-powered vessels with variable draft: the first-in-class ship Arctic and two serial-built vessels, the Siberia and the Ural.