NSF officials favor modern icebreakers

[unhappycamper]

NSF officials favor modern icebreakers
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 12, 2008 18:04:10 EST

Moving away from Coast Guard icebreakers for trips to the Antarctic not only saves money for the National Science Foundation, it’s more energy efficient, according to a Dec. 9 presentation.

Speaking to a meeting of the National Science Board, officials with NSF’s Office of Polar Programs said that chartering Russian or Swedish icebreakers — newer, more modern ships — required less fuel than the Coast Guard’s two Polar-class ships.

Modern breakers’ diesel-electric plants are much more efficient than the late-1970s vintage combined diesel-or-gas plants aboard the icebreakers Polar Sea and Polar Star, said George Blaidsell, operations manager for polar programs. What’s more, the modern ships have better water ballasting systems to make them heavier, and better at, breaking ice than the older ships.

The NSF’s continued support for cheaper, more efficient chartered ships has stymied the Coast Guard’s ability to use its Polar-class icebreakers, which are operated by Coast Guardsmen but funded through NSF. Demand for the ships is projected to increase sharply in the Arctic because melting ice has made more northern waterways navigable, but Coast Guard officials have been frustrated by the funding bureaucracy.

The Polar Star has been in a reserve status since 2006. Congress this year authorized enough money to keep it in reserve, but not enough for it to become operational again.


Article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_cg_icebreakers_121208w/%2e