Page 33 - Журнал Sozvezdye Review - «СОЗВЕЗДИЕ» #39

FACTS

December 3 is celebrated as the birthday of Russia’s Atomflot’s core lines of activity include ice-
nuclear icebreaker fleet. On this day in 1959, world’s breaker support to Arctic hydrocarbon projects;
first nuclear icebreaker Lenin ran up the national flag. pilotage along the Northern Sea Route into ice-
In 2008, pursuant to the Decree of the Russian covered Russian ports; port vessels servicing
President “Concerning Measures to Establish Ro- in Sabetta port; cargo transportation onboard
satom State Nuclear Energy Corporation” (Decree the nuclear LASH carrier Sevmorput; and safe
369 dd. March 20, 2008), Atomflot was incorpo- handling of nuclear materials and radioactive
rated into Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corpo- waste.
ration. Nuclear-powered vessels and nuclear main- Along with that, Rosatomflot is a provider of
tenance ships have been in Atomflot’s operation environmental rehabilitation in North-Western
since August 28, 2008. Russia. Given the special nature of the propulsion
July 14, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Pu- systems on its ships, safe handling of nuclear ma-
tin issued a decree awarding Atomflot the 25-year terials and radioactive waste constitutes one of its
status as federal nuclear authority. main technical tasks.

“It isn’t just a technology fusion, but a proof of Arctic leadership
Russia’s leadership in the Arctic and our key advan-
tage in a region which is so important to us. We are According to Vladimir Vorobyov, Iceberg Central
planning to increase our presence in the Arctic by en- Design Bureau’s former chief designer who passed
hancing national security and promoting economic away in 2020, the new reactor was going to be Arkti-
interests.” ka’s only highlight, “but there were so many cherries
Arktika was designed by St. Petersburg-based to be added to the cake that the ship turned out a to-
Central Design Bureau Iceberg. Capable of plough- tal package. We’ve come a long way from I/B 50 Let
ing through the ice as thick as 3 meters and classified Pobedy, even though its design specifications are still
as Icebreaker 9, her vital statistics include the length considered some of the best optimal.”
of 173 meters, breadth 34 meters and displacement A flagship multipurpose ship of Project 22220,
of 33540 tons. With service life of 40 years, Arktika Arktika was followed by Siberia, which is now success-
accommodates a crew of 54 and is equipped with an fully operating along the Northern Sea Route. Three
A/C electric propulsion with asynchronous propel- more icebreakers of the same design are currently un-
ler motors, designed by Krylov State Research Cen- der construction at Baltic Shipyard – Ural (laid down
ter. Her design is the first domestically developed in 2016), Yakutia and Chukotka (laid down in 2020).
package solution that covers all icebreaker opera-
tion modes.
Arktika’s heart is 175 MW two-reactor nuclear
propulsion system RHYTHM-200, engineered by
I. I. Afrikantov Experiemental Design Bureau. Each
reactor has a containment shell, with safety assured

by the principles of high heat storage capacity; natu- The year 2020 saw the start of the construction of I/B
ral circulation of primary fluid sufficient to activate Russia (I/B Leader-based Project 10510) at Zvezda
shutdown cooling; minimum-length primary piping; Shipbuilding Complex. Its nuclear propulsion system
blockdown blocks in connection pipes; and larger vol- RYTHM-400 will have even higher capacity, with two
ume of primary coolant in the reactor vessel as com- 315 MW reactors. There is a plan to build three more
pared to block design solution. nuclear-powered ships of this design.
Thanks to its design solutions, Arktika’s radiation Today, the capacity of Russian Federation’s nucle-
exposure of crew does not exceed 0.01% of natural ar icebreaker fleet surpasses that of any other coun-
background under normal operation and conceiv- try’s. In addition to the newly built Arktika and Sibe-
able accidents; even if the reactor core should receive ria, this fleet includes two-reactor icebreakers, Yamal
severe damage, the population exposure will stay and 50 Let Pobedy; single-reactor icebreakers, Taimyr
within the range not requiring protective measures. and Vaigach; and nuclear-powered LASH carrier Sev-
One testimony to this new icebreaker’s high safety morput. By 2030, all previous-generation ships are due SOZVEZDYE #39
standards is Crystal Compass 2021 national award to be replaced by Projects 22220 and 10510. With cut-
for Best Eco-Friendly Industrial and Business Proj- ting-edge nuclear icebreaker fleet, cargo transportation
ect. This award is shared by Atomflot, Iceberg Central along the Northern Sea Route will be safe and year-
Design Bureau and Baltic Shipyard. round, unlocking full potential of this transport artery. развитие
development

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