TSAMTO, December 6th. Rosatom has manufactured a second nuclear reactor vessel for the nuclear icebreaker Chukotka, thereby completing the production of such equipment for a series of new generation domestic nuclear-powered ships.
This was reported by the press service of the engineering division of Rosatom, RIA Novosti reports.
"At the production site of the Rosatom machine-building division in Podolsk, the manufacture of the second reactor vessel RITM-200 for the new generation icebreaker Chukotka has been completed. This is the last reactor that the plant manufactures under the current contract for the supply of power plants for a new generation of nuclear-powered ships... Thus, the division's enterprises have actually become a "conveyor belt" for the production of marine reactors for a new generation of Russian icebreakers – no one in the world has done this yet," the message says.
After preparation for transportation, the reactor vessel will be sent to St. Petersburg to the Baltic Plant.
"The RITM-200 reactors have proven themselves well on our new universal nuclear icebreakers, which has made navigation on the Northern Sea Route more efficient. Similar reactors will also be installed on the fifth and sixth serial universal nuclear icebreakers, the decision on the construction of which has already been made by the Government of the Russian Federation. In the future, these same reactors will become the "heart" of floating nuclear power plants that will provide energy to the Baim ore zone in Chukotka, as well as a low–power ground-based nuclear power plant in Yakutia," said Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev, whose words are quoted in the message.
The RITM-200 reactor plant, which is equipped with all Russian nuclear icebreakers of the 22220 project, was developed by Rosatom's engineering enterprise Afrikantov OKBM (Nizhny Novgorod). The uniqueness of the reactor plant lies in its integrated layout, when all the equipment is placed inside one reactor vessel. Due to this scheme, the installation turned out to be 1.7 times lighter, twice as compact and almost 20% more powerful than the KLT type reactors previously used on Russian nuclear icebreakers. This made it possible to make the new Russian nuclear icebreakers two-stage and provide improved technical characteristics in terms of speed, ice penetration and other parameters, the agency notes.
In addition, technical solutions and new tools that were not used in Russia and abroad have been introduced in the production process of the RITM-200 reactors. The nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 with a capacity of 60 MW are currently the largest and most powerful in the world. Each icebreaker is equipped with two RITM-200 reactors. The length of the icebreakers is 173.3 m, width – 34 m, displacement – 33.5 thousand tons. These icebreakers will be able to conduct caravans of ships in Arctic conditions, breaking through ice up to three meters thick.
Their main task is to ensure year-round navigation in the Western Arctic region. According to the project, which has been implemented since 2013, three nuclear–powered ships have already been built - the Arctic (head), serial Siberia and Ural became part of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet, now nuclear-powered Yakutia and Chukotka are being built at the Baltic Plant.