In Dudinka port Sibir general purpose nuclear icebreaker tugged Norilsk Nickel diesel-electric vessel of the Arc7 class by special “close” towing method. The voyage to Dudinka took 10 days, and the route was 2162,4 nautical miles long, according to Rosatom state corporation press service.

“The crew of Sibir nuclear icebreaker provided a unique tug service. Their work required utmost professionalism, due account of the icebreaker’s and Norilsk Nickel’s design features and impeccable coordination between the both ships’ crews,” commented Atomflot Director General Yakov Antonov.

Given that the tug service was required extremely late in the Arctic east sector, the operation was prepared in advance. Captain of Sibir Konstantin Kelarev worked out the tug service in St.Petersburg using an ice navigation simulator at the Project 22220 general-purpose nuclear icebreaker, which makes it possible to work out scenarios for covering the Northern Sea Route in conjunction with other vessels. In the simulator's constructor mode, you can create an unlimited number of variants of ice conditions at any point in the Arctic.