Nuclear-powered icebreaker
On 17 August 1977, NS "Arktika" ("Arctic") became the first surface ship ever to reach the North Pole. "Arktika" was withdrawn from service in 2008 after clocking up 175,000 hours of reactor operation time and covering more than 1 million nautical miles. Rather than be scrapped, there are calls for her to be converted to a museum ship, like her predecessor "Lenin".
Polaris (icebreaker)
Although the topic of ordering a new icebreaker surfaced from time to time, funding for the vessel projected to cost 100 to 120 million euro was not included in the budget until 2012 when 125 million euro was allocated for a new vessel with a design lifetime of 50 years. Of this, 25 million euro would come from the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) program of the European Union. Initially, the new icebreaker was supposed to replace the 1954-built "Voima", the oldest and smallest icebreaker in the Finnish state-owned fleet as well as technically the oldest icebreaker in the world still in active service. However, when the new icebreaker was ordered, it was stated that the new vessel would primarily replace the "Atle"-class icebreaker "Frej" that the Finnish government has chartered from Sweden while "Voima" would remain in limited service.