Rosatom Completes Reactor Production for Nuclear Icebreaker Rossiya

Sept. 15—Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear power engineering corporation, has completed the two reactors that will become the “heart” of the Rossiya, the most powerful icebreaker in the world, currently under construction. It will be capable of breaking ice 4 meters thick, allowing year-round passage across the Arctic Northern Sea Route. Rosatom made the announcement Sept. 8.

Designated as Project 10510 of the Leader class of icebreakers, the Rossiya will be powered by two RITM-400 pressurized water reactors, which are rated at 80 megawatts. The RITM-400 is Rosatom’s Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Rosatom is building a nuclear power station with one RITM-400 reactor in Ust-Kuyga, in the eastern Russian Arctic, expected to be completed by 2028. It will support the development of the nearby Kyuchus gold deposit. This same reactor will power the floating nuclear power plant that is currently under construction.

Rosatom has given names to the two reactors, Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich. These were two legendary bogatyrs, or knights, who served under Vladimir I, Czar of Kievan Rus, known for their extraordinary strength and courage.

This ship is twice as large and powerful as the Project 22220 icebreakers, which are currently the largest and only nuclear icebreakers in operation. Seven of these ships were built in series, with four in operation, two already floated out and close to completion, and one still under construction in the shipyard.

Nuclear power is the only practical form of propulsion for icebreakers, since they have to operate at full power in order to break through ice up to 4 meters thick. Diesel power would require an impractical amount of fuel to carry out the task. No other country has nuclear-powered icebreakers, or any as powerful as the above two classes. Russia also has the largest diesel-powered icebreaker, the Viktor Chernomyrdin. By contrast, the U.S. Coast Guard has only three aging Polar-class icebreakers, only one of which is in operation, and the U.S. Navy operates only one; all of these are considerably smaller than the Russian icebreakers.