The Arctic as a resource base
What’s wrong with Russia’s official documents on the Arctic.
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Publish date: December 10, 1998
Written by: Thomas Nilsen
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Sovietsky Soyuz broke through the thick ice on Wednesday, after having been stuck since Monday this week. The icebreaker made its way free from the extraordinary thick ice without any assistance, according to Reuters.
The icebreaker has already moved 34 kilometres to the west, since it got free yesterday. The problem was the 15-20 meter thick ice 180 kilometres west of the Arctic port of Pevek in eastern Siberia.
Sovietsky Soyuz is one of the only three nuclear powered icebreakers still in operation this autumn. Murmansk Shipping Company has eight nuclear powered icebreakers, but the rest of them are laid up in Murmansk, due to the present economic problems. The shipping company’s regular customers cannot afford to pay the costs of using the nuclear powered icebreakers, and Murmansk Shipping Company officials say they cannot operate free of charge.
What’s wrong with Russia’s official documents on the Arctic.
As uranium supplies from Russia fall under the shadow of potential sanctions, and while Ukraine’s allies look to wean themselves off nuclear fuel produced by Moscow’s Rosatom corporation, owners of left-for-dead mines in the US are looking to revive their deposits.
The European Union doubled its purchases of Russian nuclear fuel in 2023, data from Eurostat and the UN’s international trade service Comtrade show.
The output of Russian nuclear power plants in 2023 decreased by 2.8% compared to 2022. A decrease in output occurred for the first time in 10 years a...