Kovalchuk said Russia owns more than half of the world's icebreakers

Russia owns more than 50% of all icebreakers in the world, and is the only country to have a nuclear icebreaker fleet. This was stated by Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center (NRC) Mikhail Kovalchuk said on November 27 at the session "New Materials and Chemistry: a Critical Component of Ensuring Russia's Technological Leadership" of the IV Congress of Young Scientists.

"We are today the only country in the world that owns more than 50% of the icebreaker fleet in the world in total, more than 50 icebreakers. We are the only country that has a nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet," Kovalchuk said.

The head of the Kurchatov Institute noted that any state that now wants to build a nuclear icebreaker will not be able to do it quickly: decades of experience are needed. Kovalchuk recalled that the USSR, which built the world's first nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", which was handed over to the Ministry of Marine Fleet in 1959, went through a long path of trial and error. In particular, special designs of such vessels were developed and materials capable of withstanding the chemical reaction of metal and ice were selected. We had to take into account, among other things, that different types of ice exhibit chemical activity in different ways.

The head of the SIC said that as part of the Kurchatov Institute there is an institute "Prometey", which develops ships, pipes, installations for oil and gas production. In addition, the SIC includes the All-Russian Research Institute of Aviation Materials (VIAM), which creates a variety of aircraft. Thanks to these organizations, Russia is one of the four countries in the world that has a full complex of gas turbine engine production. These devices include the "blade" part, which only the Russian Federation, the United States and the United Kingdom and France have the capability to manufacture.

Kovalchuk noted that Russia now faces the task of ensuring its technological sovereignty, which is based on independence from foreign goods, import substitution and restoration of all production processes. In addition, the country must achieve sustainable development and technological leadership.

Earlier, on November 11, the head of the Kurchatov Institute drew attention to the fact that Russian science has a huge potential and the country has achieved technological power, which "grew out of the atomic project." Kovalchuk emphasized that Russia remains strong in all sectors where it has achieved leadership, for example, in the field of hypersonic technologies.

Before that, on November 4, the head of the SIC emphasized the importance of a multipolar world for the development of science. Kovalchuk believes that the commercial use of any achievements can be kept secret, but the scientific discoveries themselves should be available to any state.