Russia Launches Advanced Nuclear Icebreaker

Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom launched a new advanced nuclear-powered icebreaker ‘Ural’ yesterday, May 25 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. For Rosatom it is considered as another step towards ensuring all-year round navigability of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in tapping the commercial potential of Arctic region. Ural is the first of the Trio and the others ‘Arktik’ and the ‘Sibir’ to be launched in the near future.
The 173 metre-long ‘Ural’ is equipped with two highly efficient and compact RITM-200 nuclear reactors on board, capable of generating up to 350MW combined, allowing the ship to break through ice as thick as three meters. The cutting edge RITM-200 type reactor makes its debut on the ‘Ural’ as well as on its sister vessels from the 22220 project- the ‘Arktik’ and the ‘Sibir’ before Rosatom deploys it in floating nuclear power plants.
Another unique feature of the project 22220 vessels including the ‘Ural’ is its dual-draught design. Ballast tanks inside its hull can be adjusted easily to alter the ship’s draught depending on whether the vessel needs to navigate the Arctic sea or shallow river estuaries.
“The ‘Ural’ together with its sister Icebreakers are central to our strategic project of opening the NSR for round-the-year activity. Our goal is to ensure passage of more than 80 million metric tons of shipments through the NSR by 2024. We plan to add two more projects 22220 ships to the nuclear Icebreaker fleet by 2027. The contract for construction of these Icebreakers is expected to be signed by the end of this August” said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom.
The 80 million metric ton target would consist mainly of natural gas (47 million tons), coal (23 million tons), oil (5 million tons), heavy industrial goods such as machinery (5 million tons) and 1 million tons of metals.
Supported by Russian Government, Rosatom is playing the leading role in development of the Northern Sea Route infrastructure.
Under an inter-governmental agreement, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project in Bangladesh is being implemented by Rosatom. The project will have two units each of 1,200 MW capacity. Latest and safest generation 3+ Russian VVER reactors, which meet all the safety requirements set by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been chosen for the project. – Press release