Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers sets new record for reaching North Pole

Russia celebrates a new milestone of its nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, reached by the seventh Arktika class icebreaker which reached the North Pole on August 17, 2017.

The first Arktika under the command of captain Yuri Kuchiyev reached the North Pole 40 years ago,  on 17 August 1977.  The 2017 expedition plans to reach the northernmost point also on August 17 to hoist a flag in memory of the North Pole pioneers, TASS reports.

The ’50 Let Pobedy’ icebreaker has set a speed record in the northern route, covering the distance from Murmansk to the North Pole in 79 hours. Forty years ago, the first Arktika, reached the North Pole in 176 hours; therefore, this new limit has set a remarkable a speed record in the northern route.

This is twice as faster as the time shown by the Soviet-era Arktika nuclear-powered icebreaker in 1977 when a surface vessel reached the North Pole for the first time, Atomflot Shipping Director Andrei Smirnov, he was quoted as saying in TASS media.

The Pole was reached by a surface ship for the 124th time, Smirnov said. “Over 40 years, the Pole has been reached 124 times in surface navigation, including 111 times by Soviet and Russian vessels,” he said.