Newest nuclear-powered icebreaker is one step closer to launch

The universal nuclear-powered icebreaker Chukotka will soon receive one of the two RITM-200 reactor units required for its operation. The second reactor will be shipped by the end of 2023.

‘We continue to work on the renewal of the nuclear icebreaker fleet. Chukotka will be the fourth serial icebreaker of Project 22220. The head icebreaker of this project – Arktika – and two serial icebreakers Sibir and Ural successfully tackle multiplied tasks in the harsh conditions of the Northern Sea Route. The RITM-200 reactors installed on them have shown excellent performance,’ Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation, said.

The RITM-200 is the most modern and productive ship reactor unit in the world. The reactor weighs 147.5 tons and has a thermal capacity of 175 MW. It is twice lighter, 1.5 times more compact and 25 MW more powerful than previously used ship reactors. This has improved the nuclear-powered ships’ speed and ice-crossing characteristics – the new-generation universal icebreakers are capable of conquering ice thickness up to 3 meters.

‘The development and mastering of production of the RITM new generation reactors was carried out with the participation of the entire machine-building division. The high professionalism of designers and machine builders, their team work skills allowed us to create a product that today is of key importance not only for the icebreaker fleet, but also for the nuclear power industry as a whole. In addition to the development of the Northern Sea Route, their use will make it possible to effectively solve the problems of power supply to remote and hard-to-reach areas,’ Igor Kotov, Atomenergomash Director General, commented.

Since 2013, Rosatom (supports the operation of nuclear-powered icebreakers) has shipped nine new-generation marine reactor units for universal nuclear icebreakers. The tenth RITM-200 is scheduled to be shipped to the shipyard by the end of 2023.

The Chukotka icebreaker is the fourth serial universal nuclear-powered icebreaker of the ‘22220’ project. The ship is scheduled to be commissioned in 2026. The ship itself is being assembled at a specialized site in St. Petersburg.

The Project 22220 icebreakers are the most powerful and modern in the world, and due to their increased width (34 meters), the vessels are capable of carrying tankers with a displacement of up to 100,000 tons alone in the Arctic. This series’s ships are able to change in draft so they sail both offshore and in shallow water. Two other nuclear powered ships’ projects are ‘Taymyr’ and ‘Arktika’ that together with ‘22220’ make up the only nuclear-powered fleet in the world.

These vessels successfully operate on the NSR due to their unique characteristics and ensure safe navigation along this Arctic route. This new corridor provides such advantages as shorter length (vs traditional southern logistics corridors), safety of cargo transportation, absence of bottlenecks and queues when passing the route. It allows to shorten the way between ports of Northern Europe and Asia by almost 40% in comparison to other routes. This visible benefit influences the total volume of consumed fuel and carbon emissions of maritime transport. As a result, the use of the NSR may positively contribute to the global supply chain sustainability and the world trade as a whole.

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Also published on Medium.