Icebreaker
In May 2007, sea trials were completed for the nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker NS . The vessel was put into service by Murmansk Shipping Company, which manages all eight Russian state-owned nuclear icebreakers. The keel was originally laid in 1989 by Baltic Works of Leningrad, and the ship was launched in 1993 as NS "Ural". This icebreaker was intended to be the sixth and last of the "Arktika" class, and currently is the world's largest icebreaker.
Icebreaker
The steam-powered icebreakers were resurrected in the late 1950s when the Soviet Union commissioned the first nuclear-powered icebreaker, "Lenin", in 1959. It had a nuclear-turbo-electric powertrain in which the nuclear reactor was used to produce steam for turbogenerators, which in turn produced electricity for propulsion motors. Starting from 1975, the Russians commissioned six "Arktika"-class nuclear icebreakers of which the last, 2007-built "50 Let Pobedy", is the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the world at . In addition, two shallow-draft "Taymyr"-class nuclear icebreakers were built in Finland for the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. The Soviets also built a nuclear-powered icebreaking cargo ship, "Sevmorput", which had a single nuclear reactor and a steam turbine directly coupled to the propeller shaft. Russia, which remains the sole operator of nuclear-powered icebreakers, is currently building a new icebreakers to replace the aging "Arktika" class. The first vessel of this type is expected to enter service in 2017.