Break the ice: the 65th anniversary of world’s only nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet

65 years ago, the flag was raised on the world’s first nuclear icebreaker – Lenin. Its launch was a big step for all of humanity as it allowed to transfer through multimetre ice in the northern part of our planet. Lenin led thousands of ships through the Arctic ice, covered 654 thousand nautical miles – 151 times distance from north to south of the African continent – and worked on the Northern Sea Route for 30 years.

Anniversary events dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the country’s icebreaker fleet were held on December 3 in Murmansk, hosted by Atomflot (a part of Rosatom Group). A meeting of Atomflot employees and an award ceremony for seamen and shore-based personnel was held in celebration of the holiday. Andrei Chibis, Governor of the Murmansk Region, Sergey Dubovoy, Chairman of the Murmansk Regional Duma, Boris Kabakov, Director of the Department of Project Implementation in the NSR and Arctic of the Arctic Directorate of Rosatom State Corporation, and Yakov Antonov, Head of Atomflot, were among guests.

“This is a great year when we can say clearly that transition from icebreakers of the past generation to 22220 icebreakers of a completely new generation has taken place. There is demand for our services. And, most importantly, there is clear support from our partners. When you understand and see the significance of our services and their relevance, it lifts your spirits and strengthens seamen’s confidence in the future,” Yakov Antonov emphasised.

Today, Atomflot’s nuclear icebreaker fleet includes seven nuclear icebreakers. Three of them are the newest Project 22220 icebreakers with 60 MW shaft power – Arktika, Sibir and Ural. Project 22220 nuclear icebreakers are based on a nuclear power plant with two RITM-200 reactors with thermal capacity of 175 MW each, thanks to which the period of operation without fuel recharging is increased up to 7 years, and the ice penetration reaches 2.9 metres. They can change their draft from 10.5 to 9.03, which allows them to operate both at sea and in river mouths. Four more icebreakers of this project and the heavy-duty icebreaker Russia of project 10510 are at different stages of construction.

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route between western Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region. The length of the route is 5.6 thousand kilometres. One of the strategic goals of Rosatom State Corporation is to make the NSR an efficient transport artery linking Europe, Russia and the Asia-Pacific region. A federal project to develop the Great Northern Sea Route – a transport corridor from St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad to Vladivostok – is currently being developed.