The Russians have constructed far more powerful and efficient atomic reactors for icebreakers. The fresh generation will power a real giant that can open arctic routes to planet trade.
We proceed with the subject of atomic blocks in the Russian Arctic, so for a fuller knowing of this part I propose to return for a minute to the article from the erstwhile issue of Polish thought entitled “Atom break Arctic ice cream” (Jęczniak: Atom cracks Arctic ice cream | Think Poland (myślpolska.info)).
RITM-200 reactors work on the latest Russian icebreakers. Thanks to many amendments, they are twice as lightweight, much more compact, and 25 MW stronger than the erstwhile generation (KLT-40). They weigh 147.5 tons, are 7.3 metres tall and 3.3 metres in diameter. They besides give much more power on the shaft – 80,5 1000 horsepower (60 MW). It allows ice cream to be beaten up to 3 metres thick and lead tankers with DWT up to 100 1000 tons (Aframax is 70-120 1000 tons).
The expanding power of the reactors allows to increase the key parameter for convoy ships, i.e. the width of the water belt free of ice. So it makes Arctic waters open to a much wider group of ships. The first steam-powered icebreakers were 23 metres wide. First atomic – 27.6 meters. The later model expanded the hull to 30 metres, and present task 22220 – 34 metres.
But present a fresh page in the past of the Arctic is opened – joining the service of icebreakers from task 10510 “The Leader”. In 2017, a method task was completed and under the first of this series, “Russia”, a keel was laid in 2020. AtomFlot builds it at the “Star” (Star) shipyard – for the first time the icebreaker is not built in Petersburg, but in the Far East.
The power of “Russia” – the first in a series – will be the eclipses of today's leaders. dimension 209 meters, tallness over 20 meters, width 47.7 m, DWT 69.7 1000 tons. The power on the 120 MW shaft, the velocity of 24 knots in clean water and 12 after the ice is 2 metres thick, most common in winter months. It defeats ice cream 4 meters thick, and the left waterway track is 50 metres wide, which will completely open the PDM for the Arctic-class seventh-class Arctic gas tankers. The Russian budget will cost 128 billion rubles.
Nuclear reactors for the fresh kind of icebreaker, manufactured for it by OBKM Afrikantow, 1 of Rosatom's companies in Nizhny Nowgorod, will be much more powerful. These will be 2 RITM-400 blocks with a full heat output of 315 MWt. It is simply a doubled predecessor (RITM-200) evolutionaryly developed on the basis of operational experience. That's 4 turbines alternatively of two, 4 generators in place of two. As a result, the working power of 160 1000 horsepower (120 MW), driving 4 screws.
Compare to the most powerful diesel engine in the ship: a free-turn, 14-cylinder Wärtsilä RT-flex96C engine gives up to 109 1000 horsepower. A container with specified an engine can carry 11,000 20-foot units, with a velocity of 31 knots, while others scope only 20 knots. This power is not achieved by floating Russian icebreakers today, but the Leader task already importantly exceeds it. For icebreakers, power is not needed to accomplish speed, but to break even the thickest obstacles of ice.
The next generation of icebreakers are set up with a completely fresh quality task – they are intended to let not only to pass through the Arctic Ocean ice cream, but to guarantee that the PDM passes through dense ice conditions at a velocity of 12-14 knots (22-26 km/h), which is already beginning to be attractive to shipowners.
For Russia, the atomic fleet, which tames Arctic ice all day is simply a symbol of the technological power, for over 60 years combining the power of atomic energy with the construction of ships that are able to open sea routes in areas highly dangerous and inaccessible to man. And atomic energy is the most concentrated, "dense" of all known to man. It gives the powerful power the Russians usage to overcome the freezing and ice of the Arctic.
Andrzej Szczęsniak
photo by OBKM Afrikantov (public domain)
Think Poland, No. 29-30 (16-23.07.2023)
