Why in news?

Two nuclear-powered icebreakers launched by Russia to  ensure year-round navigation in the Western Arctic.

Highlights:

• Launch ceremony : Petersburg in northern Russia
• Both icebreakers were laid down as part of a large serial project and are part of our large-scale, systematic work to re-equip and replenish the domestic icebreaker fleet, to strengthen Russia’s status as a great Arctic power
• Yakutia nuclear icebreaker was launched into the water in the docks
• Two other icebreakers in the same series, the Arktika and the Sibir, are already in service, and another, the Chukotka, is scheduled for 2026.

What is Nuclear-powered icebreaker?

• It is an icebreaker with an on-board nuclear power plant that produces power for the vessel’s propulsion system
• Russia is the only country that builds and operates nuclear-powered icebreakers, having built a number of such vessels to aid shipping along the Northern Sea Route

Arctic Circle

• It is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth.
• Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle.
• Arctic Circle : Arctic Ocean, the Scandinavian Peninsula, North Asia, Northern America, and Greenland
• Land within the Arctic Circle: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark , and Iceland