Russia has the world's only nuclear icebreaker fleet, designed to solve the problems of ensuring a national presence in the Arctic based on the use of advanced nuclear achievements. With its appearance, the real development of the Far North began. This is due to the fact that all the northern borders of the state are maritime and they pass through the waters of the Arctic Ocean, the seas of which are covered with ice almost all year round, with the exception of part of the Barents Sea.

For Russia at all times, the Northern Sea Route, running along the northern coast of the country, has been a strategic highway along which it is possible to transport goods, ferry ships and warships from the west to the east of the country and back. This is the shortest route from Europe to Japan and China.

Until the 1960s, navigation in the Arctic Ocean took three to three and a half months. The small power of power plants did not allow ships to force heavy ice early spring and late autumn. Therefore, it was decided to begin the construction of icebreakers with nuclear reactors that could carry out year-round ice support in the Arctic.

From 1971 to 1992, the second generation nuclear icebreakers “Arktika”, “Sibir”, “Russia”, “Russia” were built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad. Soviet Union" and "Yamal". From 1982 to 1988 on Kerch shipyard"Zaliv" was created by the lighter-container carrier "Sevmorput". The nuclear icebreakers Taimyr and Vaygach were built by order of the USSR at the Wartsila shipyard in Finland from 1985 to 1989. In this case, Soviet equipment (power plant) and steel were used. "Taimyr" was put into operation on June 30, 1989, and "Vaigach" on July 25, 1990. Thanks to their reduced draft, they could serve ships traveling along the Northern Sea Route with calls at the mouths of Siberian rivers.

Currently, the nuclear icebreaker fleet includes: two nuclear icebreakers with a two-reactor nuclear power plant with a capacity of 75 thousand horsepower (Yamal, 50 Let Pobeda), two icebreakers with a single-reactor plant with a capacity of about 50 thousand horsepower (Taimyr) , "Vaigach"), the nuclear-powered lighter-container carrier "Sevmorput" and five technical service vessels.

The remaining nuclear-powered ships have exhausted their technical life and are taken out of service (Lenin in 1989, Sibir in 1992, Arktika in 2008, Rossiya). In 2017, it was decided to dismantle the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Soviet Union", although earlier.

Work was carried out on existing Russian nuclear icebreakers to extend the service life of reactor plants. The operation of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Vaigach" is scheduled to be completed at the turn of 2023-2024, "Taimyra" - in 2025-2026, "Yamala" - 2027-2028. The completion of operation of the nuclear icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" is scheduled for 2035.

Instead of retiring nuclear icebreakers, more advanced ones currently under construction, Project 22220 "Arctic", "Sibir" and "Ural", will be put into operation.

Project 22220 icebreakers have, in addition to a nuclear installation, electric propulsion systems, which significantly reduces the cost of operation and facilitates the work of the crew. Reactors work not only on steam turbines, which in turn rotate the propeller shafts, they act as power plants, supplying current to all consumers of the ship, including the engines. And that's what they are. Project 22220 icebreakers will be able to navigate convoys of ships in Arctic conditions, breaking through ice up to three meters thick along the way. New ships transporting hydrocarbon raw materials from the fields of the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas, the Kara Sea shelf to the markets of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The vessel's double-draft design with adjustable immersion depth allows it to be used both in Arctic waters and at the mouths of polar rivers.

"Arktika" and "Sibir" have already been launched, and "Ural". "Arktika" is planned to be delivered in the first half of 2019, "Siberia" and "Ural" -.

In addition, a project is being prepared for a new, even more powerful Russian nuclear icebreaker 10510 "Leader" with a capacity of 120 megawatts. The main tasks of the new leading nuclear-powered ships should be to ensure year-round navigation along the Northern Sea Route and.

Without modern icebreakers, it is impossible to solve many socio-economic problems that Russia faces in the Arctic. This includes the development of the Far North, the realization of the oil and gas potential of the Russian Arctic shelf, geological exploration work to study the Arctic shelf areas, the development of fields and all service infrastructure, as well as the effective operation and export of extracted products.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Now let's start with the story...

The nuclear icebreaker Arktika went down in history as the first surface ship to reach the North Pole. The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" (from 1982 to 1986 was named "Leonid Brezhnev") is the lead ship of the Project 10520 series. The keel of the vessel took place on July 3, 1971 at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad. More than 400 associations and enterprises, research and development organizations took part in the creation of the icebreaker, including the Experimental Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau named after. I. I. Afrikantov and Research Institute of Atomic Energy named after. Kurchatova.

The icebreaker was launched in December 1972, and in April 1975 the ship was put into operation.

The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" was intended for escorting ships in the Arctic Ocean to carry out various types icebreaking operations. The length of the vessel was 148 meters, width - 30 meters, side height - about 17 meters. The power of the nuclear steam generating plant exceeded 55 megawatts. Thanks to your technical indicators The nuclear-powered ship could break through ice 5 meters thick, and in clean water reach speeds of up to 18 knots.

The icebreaker Arktika's first voyage to the North Pole took place in 1977. This was a large-scale experimental project, within which scientists had to not only reach the geographic point of the North Pole, but also conduct a series of studies and observations, as well as test the capabilities of the Arktika and the stability of the vessel in constant collision with ice. More than 200 people took part in the expedition.

On August 9, 1977, the nuclear-powered ship left the port of Murmansk, heading for the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. In the Laptev Sea, the icebreaker turned north.

And so on August 17, 1977, at 4 o’clock in the morning Moscow time, the nuclear icebreaker, having overcome the thick ice cover of the Central Polar Basin, for the first time in the world reached the geographical point of the North Pole in active navigation. In 7 days 8 hours, the nuclear-powered ship covered 2,528 miles. The age-old dream of sailors and polar explorers of many generations has come true. The crew and members of the expedition celebrated this event with a solemn ceremony of raising the State Flag of the USSR on a ten-meter steel mast installed on the ice. During the 15 hours that the nuclear-powered icebreaker spent on the top of the Earth, scientists carried out a complex of research and observations. Before leaving the pole, the sailors lowered into the waters of the Arctic Ocean a commemorative metal plate with the image of the State Emblem of the USSR and the inscription “USSR. 60 years of October, a/l “Arktika”, latitude 90°-N, 1977.”

This icebreaker has high sides, four decks and two platforms, a forecastle and a five-tier superstructure, and is propelled by three four-blade fixed-pitch propellers. The nuclear steam production plant is located in a special compartment in the middle part of the icebreaker. The icebreaker's hull is made of high-strength alloy steel. In places exposed to the greatest ice loads, the hull is reinforced with an ice belt. The icebreaker has trim and roll systems. Towing operations are provided by a stern electric towing winch. To conduct ice reconnaissance, a helicopter is based on the icebreaker. Control and management technical means power plant operations are carried out automatically, without constant watch in engine rooms, propulsion motor rooms, power plants and at switchboards.

Operation control and control of the power plant are carried out from the central control station; additional control of the propulsion electric motors is located in the wheelhouse and aft station. The pilothouse is the ship's control center. On the nuclear-powered ship it is located on the top floor of the superstructure, from where a greater view opens. The pilothouse is stretched across the vessel - 25 meters from side to side, its width is about 5 meters. Large rectangular portholes are located almost entirely on the front and side walls. Inside the cabin there is only the most necessary things. Near the sides and in the middle there are three identical consoles, on which there are control knobs for the movement of the vessel, indicators for the operation of the icebreaker’s three propellers and the position of the rudder, direction indicators and other sensors, as well as buttons for filling and draining ballast tanks and a huge typhon button for sounding. Near the left side control panel there is a chart table, near the central one there is a steering wheel, and at the starboard side control panel there is a hydrological table; All-round radar stands are installed near the navigation and hydrological tables.

At the beginning of June 1975, the nuclear-powered icebreaker guided the diesel-electric icebreaker Admiral Makarov along the Northern Sea Route to the east. In October 1976, the icebreaker Ermak with the dry cargo ship Kapitan Myshevsky, as well as the icebreaker Leningrad with the transport Chelyuskin, were rescued from ice captivity. The captain of the Arctic called those days the “finest hour” of the new nuclear-powered ship.

Arktika was decommissioned in 2008.

On July 31, 2012, the nuclear icebreaker Arktika, the first ship to reach the North Pole, was excluded from the Register of Ships.

According to information announced by representatives of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosatomflot to the press, the total cost of dismantling the Arktika a/l is estimated at 1.3-2 billion rubles, with funds allocated under the federal target program. Recently, there was a broad campaign to convince management of the refusal to dismantle and the possibility of modernizing this icebreaker.

Now let’s come closer to the topic of our post.

In November 2013, at the same Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, the laying ceremony of the lead nuclear icebreaker of Project 22220 took place. In honor of its predecessor, the nuclear-powered icebreaker was named “Arktika”. The universal double-draft nuclear icebreaker LK-60Ya will become the largest and most powerful in the world.

According to the project, the length of the vessel will be more than 173 meters, width - 34 meters, draft at the design waterline - 10.5 meters, displacement - 33.54 thousand tons. It will be the largest and most powerful (60 MW) nuclear icebreaker in the world. The nuclear-powered ship will be equipped with a two-reactor power plant with the main source of steam from the RITM-200 reactor plant with a capacity of 175 MW.

On June 16, the Baltic Shipyard launched the lead nuclear icebreaker “Arktika” of Project 22220,” the company said in a statement, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

Thus, the designers passed one of the most important stages in the construction of the ship. "Arktika" will become the lead ship of Project 22220 and will give rise to a group of nuclear icebreakers necessary for the development of the Arctic and strengthening Russia's presence in this region.

First, the rector of the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral baptized the nuclear icebreaker. Then Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, following the traditions of shipbuilders, broke a bottle of champagne on the hull of the nuclear-powered ship.

“It is difficult to overestimate what has been done by our scientists, designers, and shipbuilders. There is a feeling of pride in our country, the people who created such a ship,” Matvienko said. She recalled that Russia is the only country that has its own nuclear icebreaker fleet, which will allow it to actively implement projects in the Arctic.

"We are reaching for quality new level development of this rich region,” she emphasized.

“Seven feet under your keel, great “Arktika”!” - added the speaker of the Federation Council.

In turn, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy for the Northwestern Federal District Vladimir Bulavin noted that Russia is building new ships, despite the difficult economic situation.

“If you like, this is our response to the challenges and threats of our time,” Bulavin said.

General Director of the Rosatom state corporation Sergei Kiriyenko, in turn, called the launch of the new icebreaker a great victory for both the designers and the staff of the Baltic Shipyard. According to Kiriyenko, the Arctic opens up “fundamentally new opportunities both in ensuring the defense capability of our country and in solving economic problems.”

Project 22220 vessels will be able to conduct convoys of ships in Arctic conditions, breaking through ice up to three meters thick. The new ships will provide escort for vessels transporting hydrocarbons from the fields of the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas, the Kara Sea shelf to the markets of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The double-draft design allows the vessel to be used both in Arctic waters and at the mouths of polar rivers.

Under a contract with FSUE Atomflot, the Baltic Shipyard will build three nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220. On May 26 last year, the first production icebreaker of this project, Siberia, was laid down. Construction of the second nuclear-powered submarine "Ural" is planned to begin this fall.

The contract for the construction of the lead nuclear icebreaker of Project 22220 between FSUE Atomflot and BZS was signed in August 2012. Its cost is 37 billion rubles. The contract for the construction of two serial nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 was concluded between BZS and the state corporation Rosatom in May 2014, the cost of the contract was 84.4 billion rubles.

sources

Nuclear icebreakers can stay on the Northern Sea Route for a long time without needing refueling. Currently, the operating fleet includes the nuclear-powered ships Rossiya, Sovetsky Soyuz, Yamal, 50 Let Pobedy, Taimyr and Vaygach, as well as the nuclear-powered lighter-container carrier Sevmorput. Their operation and maintenance is carried out by Rosatomflot, located in Murmansk.

1. Nuclear icebreaker - a sea vessel with a nuclear power plant, built specifically for use in waters covered with ice all year round. Nuclear icebreakers are much more powerful than diesel ones. In the USSR, they were developed to ensure navigation in the cold waters of the Arctic.

2. For the period 1959–1991. In the Soviet Union, 8 nuclear-powered icebreakers and 1 nuclear-powered lighter-container ship were built.
In Russia, from 1991 to the present, two more nuclear icebreakers were built: Yamal (1993) and 50 Let Pobeda (2007). Construction is currently underway on three more nuclear icebreakers with a displacement of more than 33 thousand tons, ice-breaking capacity of almost three meters. The first of them will be ready by 2017.

3. In total, more than 1,100 people work on Russian nuclear icebreakers, as well as ships based on the Atomflot nuclear fleet.

"Soviet Union" (nuclear-powered icebreaker of the "Arktika" class)

4. Icebreakers of the “Arctic” class are the basis of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet: 6 out of 10 nuclear icebreakers belong to this class. The ships have a double hull and can break ice, moving both forward and backward. These ships are designed to operate in cold Arctic waters, making it difficult to operate a nuclear facility in warm seas. This is partly why crossing the tropics to work off the coast of Antarctica is not among their tasks.

The icebreaker's displacement is 21,120 tons, draft is 11.0 m, maximum speed in clear water is 20.8 knots.

5. The design feature of the icebreaker “Soviet Soyuz” is that at any time it can be retrofitted into a battle cruiser. Initially, the ship was used for Arctic tourism. While making a transpolar cruise, it was possible to install meteorological ice stations operating in automatic mode, as well as an American meteorological buoy from its board.

6. Department of GTG (main turbogenerators). A nuclear reactor heats water, which turns into steam, which spins turbines, which energize generators, which generate electricity, which feeds electric motors that turn propellers.

7. CPU (Central control post).

8. The control of the icebreaker is concentrated in two main command posts: the wheelhouse and the central power plant control post (CPC). From the wheelhouse, general management of the icebreaker’s operation is carried out, and from the central control room, the operation of the power plant, mechanisms and systems is controlled and monitored.

9. The reliability of nuclear-powered ships of the Arctic class has been tested and proven by time - for more than 30 years of nuclear-powered ships of this class there has not been a single accident associated with a nuclear power plant.

10. Wardroom for meals for command personnel. The enlisted mess is located one deck below. The diet consists of four full meals a day.

11. "Soviet Union" was put into operation in 1989, with deadline service for 25 years. In 2008, the Baltic Shipyard supplied equipment for the icebreaker that allows it to extend the life of the vessel. Currently, the icebreaker is planned for restoration, but only after a specific customer has been identified or until transit along the Northern Sea Route is increased and new work areas appear.

Nuclear icebreaker "Arktika"

12. Launched in 1975 and was considered the largest of all existing at that time: its width was 30 meters, length - 148 meters, and side height - more than 17 meters. All conditions were created on the ship to allow the flight crew and helicopter to be based. "Arktika" was capable of breaking through ice, the thickness of which was five meters, and also moving at a speed of 18 knots. The unusual coloring of the vessel (bright red), which personified a new maritime era, was also considered a clear difference.

13. The nuclear icebreaker "Arktika" became famous for being the first ship that managed to reach the North Pole. It is currently decommissioned and a decision on its disposal is awaited.

"Vaigach"

14. Shallow-draft nuclear icebreaker of the Taimyr project. Distinctive feature of this project icebreakers - reduced draft, allowing to serve ships traveling along the Northern Sea Route with calls at the mouths of Siberian rivers.

15. Captain's bridge. Remotes remote control three propulsion electric motors, also on the remote control there are control devices for the towing device, a control panel for the tug surveillance camera, log indicators, echo sounders, a gyrocompass repeater, VHF radio stations, a control panel for windshield wipers, etc., a joystick for controlling a 6 kW xenon spotlight.

16. Machine telegraphs.

17. The main use of “Vaigach” is escorting ships with metal from Norilsk and ships with timber and ore from Igarka to Dikson.

18. The main power plant of the icebreaker consists of two turbogenerators, which will provide a maximum continuous power of about 50,000 hp on the shafts. s., which will make it possible to force ice up to two meters thick. With an ice thickness of 1.77 meters, the icebreaker's speed is 2 knots.

19. Middle propeller shaft room.

20. The direction of movement of the icebreaker is controlled using an electro-hydraulic steering machine.

21. Former cinema hall. Now on the icebreaker in each cabin there is a TV with wiring for broadcasting the ship’s video channel and satellite television. The cinema hall is used for general meetings and cultural events.

22. The office of the block cabin of the second first mate. The duration of stay of nuclear-powered ships at sea depends on the amount of planned work, on average it is 2-3 months. The crew of the icebreaker "Vaigach" consists of 100 people.

Nuclear icebreaker "Taimyr"

24. The icebreaker is identical to the Vaigach. It was built in the late 1980s in Finland at the Wärtsilä shipyard (Wärtsilä Marine Engineering) in Helsinki, commissioned by the Soviet Union. However, the equipment (power plant, etc.) on the ship was installed Soviet, steel was used Soviet made. The installation of nuclear equipment was carried out in Leningrad, where the icebreaker hull was towed in 1988.

25. "Taimyr" in the dock of the shipyard.

26. “Taimyr” breaks the ice in a classic way: a powerful hull leans on an obstacle of frozen water, destroying it with its own weight. A channel is formed behind the icebreaker through which ordinary sea vessels can move.

27. To improve ice-breaking capacity, the Taimyr is equipped with a pneumatic washing system that prevents broken ice and snow from sticking to the hull. If the laying of a channel is slowed down due to thick ice, the trim and roll systems, which consist of tanks and pumps, come into play. Thanks to these systems, the icebreaker can roll first to one side, then to the other, and raise the bow or stern higher. Such movements of the hull break up the ice field surrounding the icebreaker, allowing it to move on.

28. For painting external structures, decks and bulkheads, imported two-component acrylic-based enamels with increased resistance to weathering, resistant to abrasion and impact loads are used. The paint is applied in three layers: one layer of primer and two layers of enamel.

29. The speed of such an icebreaker is 18.5 knots (33.3 km/h).

30. Repair of the propeller-rudder complex.

31. Installation of the blade.

32. Bolts securing the blade to the propeller hub; each of the four blades is secured with nine bolts.

33. Almost all vessels of the Russian icebreaker fleet are equipped propellers, manufactured at the Zvezdochka plant.

Nuclear icebreaker "Lenin"

34. This icebreaker, launched on December 5, 1957, became the world's first ship equipped with a nuclear power plant. Its most important differences were the high level of autonomy and power. During the first six years of use, the nuclear-powered icebreaker covered more than 82,000 nautical miles, carrying over 400 ships. Later, "Lenin" will be the first of all ships to be north of Severnaya Zemlya.

35. The icebreaker "Lenin" worked for 31 years and in 1990 was taken out of service and placed in permanent berth in Murmansk. Now there is a museum on the icebreaker, and work is underway to expand the exhibition.

36. The compartment in which there were two nuclear installations. Two dosimetrists went inside to measure the radiation level and monitor the operation of the reactor.

There is an opinion that it was thanks to “Lenin” that the expression “peaceful atom” was established. The icebreaker was built at the height of the Cold War, but had absolutely peaceful purposes - the development of the Northern Sea Route and the passage of civilian ships.

37. Wheelhouse.

38. Main staircase.

39. One of the captains of the AL "Lenin", Pavel Akimovich Ponomarev, was previously the captain of the "Ermak" (1928-1932) - the world's first Arctic-class icebreaker.

As a bonus, a couple of photos of Murmansk...

40. Murmansk is the world's largest city located beyond the Arctic Circle. It is located on the rocky eastern coast of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea.

41. The basis of the city’s economy is the Murmansk seaport - one of the largest ice-free ports in Russia. The Murmansk port is the home port of the Sedov barque, the largest sailing ship in the world.

Russia has the world's only nuclear icebreaker fleet, designed to solve the problems of ensuring a national presence in the Arctic based on the use of advanced nuclear achievements. With its appearance, the real development of the Far North began.

The main activities of Rosatomflot (an enterprise of the State Corporation "Rosatom") are: icebreaking support for the passage of ships in the waters of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to the freezing ports of the Russian Federation; ensuring high-latitude research expeditions; ensuring emergency rescue operations in ice in the waters of the Northern Sea Route and non-Arctic freezing seas. In addition, the company performs Maintenance and conducting repair work general ship and special purpose both for own needs and for third-party shipowners; participates in the implementation of work on environmental rehabilitation of the North-West region of Russia; and also operates tourist cruises to the North Pole, islands and archipelagos of the Central Arctic. Due to the characteristics of propulsion systems, one of technical problems- ensuring safe handling of nuclear materials and radioactive waste.

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is a shipping route, the main sea communication in the Russian Arctic. It passes along the northern coast of Russia through the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukotka and Bering). The NSR connects the European and Far Eastern ports of Russia, as well as the mouths of navigable Siberian rivers into a single transport system. The length of this transport artery is 5600 km from the Kara Gate Strait to Providence Bay.

In 2008, the Federal State unitary enterprise Atomflot became part of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom on the basis of a Presidential Decree Russian Federation“On measures to create the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom” (No. 369 of March 20, 2008). Since August 28, 2008, ships with nuclear power plants and nuclear technology service ships have been transferred to it.

The nuclear icebreaker fleet currently includes: two nuclear icebreakers with a two-reactor nuclear power plant with a capacity of 75 thousand hp. (“Yamal”, “50 Years of Victory”) and two icebreakers with a single-reactor installation with a capacity of about 50 thousand hp. (“Taimyr”, “Vaigach”). They are complemented by the nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput (reactor plant power - 40 thousand hp). In addition, Rosatomflot operates three technical service vessels and the Rossita container ship. It is also in charge of port fleet vessels intended to serve the waters of the port of Sabetta: ice-class tugboats “Pur” and “Tambey”; icebreaking tugs “Yuribey” and “Nadym”; as well as the port icebreaker Ob.

The history of the domestic nuclear icebreaker fleet begins on December 3, 1959. On this day, the world's first nuclear-powered icebreaker, Lenin, was put into operation. Only with the advent of the nuclear icebreaker fleet in the 70s of the 20th century did the Northern Sea Route begin to take shape as a national transport artery in the Arctic. The commissioning of the nuclear icebreaker Arktika (1975) opened up year-round navigation in the western sector of the Arctic. At this stage of development of the Northern Sea Route, a key role was played by the formation of the Norilsk industrial region and the appearance of the year-round port of Dudinka on the route. Then the icebreakers “Sibir”, “Russia”, “Soviet Union”, “Taimyr”, “Vaigach”, “Yamal”, “50 Let Pobedy” were built. Their construction and operation predetermined the technological advantages of our country in nuclear shipbuilding for decades.

Today, the main work of Rosatomflot is related to ensuring the safety of navigation and stable navigation, including transit, along the Northern Sea Route. Transportation of hydrocarbon and other products to the markets of Asia and Europe along the NSR route can serve as a real alternative to existing transport links between the countries of the Atlantic and Pacific basins through the Suez and Panama Canals. It provides time savings: for example, the distance from the port of Murmansk to the ports of Japan via the Northern Sea Route is about 6 thousand miles, and through the Suez Canal - more than 12 thousand miles, respectively, the transit duration is, depending on weather conditions and ice conditions , approximately 18 and 37 days.

Largely thanks to atomic icebreaker fleet There is a noticeable traffic flow on the NSR route. In 2015, about 4 million tons of cargo were transported along the NSR. Thus, the volume of transportation increased by 2.7 times compared to 1998, when transportation reached its minimum (1.46 million tons). Gradually, the transactions become more significant, and more work arises with specific, key customers and projects that will have to be served until 2040. In 2016, the volume of cargo transportation along the Northern Sea Route amounted to more than 7.3 million tons, which is 35% more than in 2015. In 2017, 492 vessels with a total gross tonnage of 7,175,704 tons were escorted by nuclear icebreakers in the waters of the Northern Sea Route (for comparison, in 2016 - 410 vessels with a total gross tonnage of 5,288,284 tons).

Rosatomflot provides work to study the hydrometeorological regime of the seas and mineral resources of the Arctic shelf adjacent to the northern coast of the Russian Federation. Main customers: OJSC State Scientific Research Navigation and Hydrographic Institute; FSBI "Arctic and Antarctic research Institute", OJSC Sevmorneftegeofizika, OJSC Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka, OJSC Marine Arctic Geological Exploration Expedition. Nuclear-powered ships of Rosatomflot participate in supporting expeditions to the drifting polar station “North Pole”.

Use of nuclear icebreakers

Russian nuclear icebreaker Yamal with a shark's mouth painted on its bow

Icebreaker Sibir

According to the Accounts Chamber, “The icebreaker Sibir has been decommissioned since 1992 due to large quantity leaky sections of steam generators and the impossibility of operating reactor plant No. 2 without replacing internal steam generators. The cores were unloaded from reactors No. 1 and No. 2 in November 1995 and January 1996, respectively, while the operating time of reactors No. 1 and No. 2 at the time of decommissioning was below the standard.” The nuclear icebreaker is scheduled to be dismantled in 2009.

Icebreaker Yamal

The icebreaker "Yamal" specializes in tourism in July-August, having already made more than fifty trips to the pole, and was the first icebreaker to reach the Pole of Inaccessibility on voyages in 1996 (07/29/1996 and 08/12/1996).

Icebreaker 50 years of Victory

The last nuclear-powered icebreaker of the modified "Arctic" project is the nuclear-powered icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy". It was laid down in 1989 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg under the name “Ural”. The team includes 138 people. Due to financial problems, the icebreaker was launched from the stocks only in 2006 and was completed until spring. Its overall length (159 m) makes it the largest of the nuclear icebreakers. The icebreaker was put into operation in April.

Icebreakers of the Taimyr class

In 1989-1990, two icebreakers “Taimyr” and “Vaigach” were built in Finland. Unlike the Arktika, they are equipped with one reactor and have a shallower draft (this allows them to enter the mouths of large rivers). Their length is 151 m, width - 29 m.

Icebreakers in philately

Infrastructure

The following support vessels are used to operate nuclear icebreakers:

1. Fuel vessels used for refueling:
   • "Lotta."
2. Fuel vessel for transporting nuclear fuel:
3. Auxiliary vessels:
   • "Volodarsky" - transportation of solid cargo,
   • "Serebryanka" - tanker,
   • "Rosta-1" - monitoring and control of background radiation.

As a rule, icebreakers try to break through the ice where it is thinnest to avoid falling into ice traps. In the 1970s and 80s, special aircraft were used to study the thickness of the ice. Nowadays, satellite systems are used for this.

Exploitation

The indispensability of the nuclear fleet was especially clearly demonstrated by the navigation of 1983, when in the eastern sector of the Arctic more than 50 ships were caught in an ice trap, including the latest diesel icebreakers Ermak, Admiral Makarov and even the nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin. Not only ships were under threat, but also the livelihoods of Arctic villages awaiting seasonal deliveries. The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" as a leading icebreaker managed to free convoys of ships from ice captivity. In the history of rescue operations at sea, this can rightfully be considered the largest successful one in the world. The captain of the icebreaker, Anatoly Lamekhov, was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, 29 crew members were awarded orders and medals.

Almost no complex expedition in the central Arctic can be completed without the Russian nuclear fleet. In 1998, the Arktika a/l carried out the first polar ice support for the German research icebreaker Polarstern (German: Polarstern). "Polarstern"). In 2004, the Soviet Union a/l, together with the Swedish diesel icebreaker Oden, ensured ice safety for drilling operations at the North Pole from the Vidar Viking vessel. In 2007, the Rossiya a/l provided the opportunity to carry out deep-sea work on the Mir exploration vessel with the Akademik Fedorov research vessel at the North Pole. In the same 2007, the a/l “50 Let Pobedy” provided ice support for the Swedish icebreaker “Oden” on a Danish expedition to the central Arctic to explore the Lomonosov Ridge. Nuclear icebreakers are used for landing in the central Arctic and evacuating all Russian North Pole drifting stations.

The reliability of nuclear-powered ships of the Arctic class has been tested and proven by time; in the more than 30-year history of nuclear-powered ships of this class, there has not been a single accident associated with a nuclear power plant. In 1999, without entering the port of Murmansk, "Arktika" for exactly 1 year, from May 4, 1999 to May 4, 2000, worked in the seas of the Arctic Ocean, piloting ships on the routes of the Northern Sea Route (110 ships were carried out), passing 50 thousand miles, of which 32 thousand were in ice without a single breakdown of the icebreaker’s components and mechanisms. The nuclear-powered ship became a kind of testing ground. In August 2005, the Russian nuclear icebreaker Arktika set another record: it traveled its millionth mile since its commissioning, which is almost five times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Before this, no vessel of this class had managed to reach such a milestone. For comparison: the world's first nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin" left 654 thousand 400 miles astern.

Richest practical experience The work of the Arctic nuclear icebreaker fleet, which no country in the world possesses, is used in the design of a new generation of nuclear-powered ships: universal nuclear-powered double-draft icebreakers of the LK-60Ya and LK-110Ya types.

Arctic tourism

Since 1989, nuclear icebreakers have been used for tourist trips to the North Pole. A cruise lasting three weeks costs $25,000. The nuclear icebreaker Sibir was first used for this purpose in 1989. Since 1991, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sovetsky Soyuz has been used for this purpose. For this purpose, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal has been used since 1993. It has a special section for tourists. The icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy, built in 2007, also has the same section.

Notes

Links

• The Arctic Job. English Russia (30.09.2009). Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2010.

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