The RITM-200 reactor has been shipped from the production site of Rosatom’s mechanical-engineering division in Podolsk. The equipment is intended for the universal nuclear icebreaker Chukotka that is under construction in St. Petersburg.
Afrikantov OKBM is the designer, package supplier and manufacturer of the RITM-200 internals. ZiO-Podolsk manufactures the reactor vessel being also responsible for its trial-fit assembly. Since 2013, Rosatom has shipped nine new generation ship reactors intended for universal nuclear icebreakers. The tenth RITM-200 is scheduled to be sent to the shipyard by the end of 2023.
“We keep on replenishing the nuclear icebreaker fleet. The Chukotka will be the fourth serial icebreaker of project 22220. The lead icebreaker of this project, the Arktika, and two serial icebreakers, the Sibir and Ural, successfully perform increased tasks in the harsh conditions of the Northern Sea Route. The RITM-200 reactors installed onboard the vessels has been demonstrating excellent performance,” said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom.
“The new generation reactors of the RITM series were developed and put into production with the participation of the entire mechanical-engineering division. The high professional level of designers and mechanical engineers, their teamwork skills have made possible the creation of a product that today is of key importance not only for the icebreaker fleet, but also for the entire nuclear industry. In addition to the development of the Northern Sea Route, using these reactors provides an effective solution to the problems of energy supply to remote and hard-to-reach areas,” noted Igor Kotov, Head of Rosatom Mechanical-Engineering Division.
The RITM-200 reactor weighs 147.5 tones. Oversize load is delivered by a special railway carriage with a capacity of 240 tonnes. The reactor will be transported by rail to the Novy Port station in St. Petersburg, where it will be loaded onto a special barge and delivered to the shipyard by water.
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The RITM-200 is the world’s most modern and efficient ship reactor. It is twice lighter, 1.5 times more compact and 25 MW more powerful than previously used ship reactors. This has improved the performance of nuclear-powered ships in terms of their speed and icebreaking capability – universal icebreakers of the new generation are capable of breaking through ice up to 3 meters thick. The RITM-200 reactor is the basis for the creation of small land-based nuclear power plants and floating NPPs.
The Chukotka icebreaker having a capacity of 60 MW is the fourth serial universal nuclear icebreaker of project 22220. The power units intended for ships of this generation consist of two RITM-200 reactors with a thermal power of 175 MW each.
The development of the Northern Sea Route as a major logistics corridor is one of the national strategic priorities. To increase the traffic along the Northern Sea Route is of vital importance in solving the tasks set in the field of comprehensive development of the Russian Arctic. This corridor development is ensured through cargo shipping organized on a regular basis, construction of new nuclear icebreakers and modernization of the relevant infrastructure. Rosatom companies are actively involved in this work.