The unique application of the peaceful atomis an icebreaking fleet. Its undeniable advantage has been proven in the harsh polar conditions of the Russian Arctic. In recent years, the government has taken a course aimed at establishing tactical and strategic superiority in the waters of the Northern Ocean. Strengthening the position of the northern sea route, bringing it to competitive positions with the Suez Canal is not only an opportunity, but also a duty of our icebreakers. The development of the Arctic shelf deposits dictates new conditions for the development of the icebreaking base of Russia. Four operational nuclear icebreakers, one nuclear container ship and two icebreakers of the project 2220 “Arctic”, already launched at the Baltic Shipbuilding Plant, are the only icebreaking fleet in the world that is already causing envy of our neighbors along the Arctic coast. And puts check and checkmate in the party for supremacy in the northern waters. The current nuclear icebreakers "Vaigach" and "Taimyr" are the main vessels in this flotilla.
Peaceful and military significance
In the Russian part of the Arctic, according to some estimates,is about 40% of world oil and gas reserves. Offshore platform only in the Pechora Sea (“Prirazlomnaya”) is already ready today to bring oil production indicators to 400 thousand tons. The Northern Sea Route is 20 days shorter than the Egyptian (17 days versus 37), and this opens up the Pacific energy markets for our energy resources. In addition, modern intercontinental missiles fired from neutral Arctic waters will reach our capital in fifteen minutes. Considering these facts and the neighbors' claims on mineral deposits, Russia needs to be fully armed while defending its interests in this zone. It is here that the nuclear icebreakers "Vaigach", "Taimyr" and the container ship "Sevmorput" will give our country the necessary advantages.
The history of atomic icebreaking vessels
Home icebreaking fleet takes withThe first nuclear-powered ship "Lenin", which was commissioned on 03.12.1959. Since that time, the Northern Sea Route acquires the value of the national northern transport artery. Year-round navigation along this path was opened by the nuclear vessel "Arktika" in 1975. The formation of the industrial complex in Norilsk and the year-round port of Dudinka justified the development of icebreaking shipping in Russia.
What we have today
Historically, Russia has always ordered a lot.various icebreakers - steam and diesel. Today, 39 diesel ships of various capacities work in the Arctic zone. But the atomic monsters of the ice expanses are expensive and have never been many. The enumeration of the kings of the North does not take much space.
- Nuclear-powered "Lenin" - the first in the line of the projectThe Arctic and the world's first nuclear-powered surface vessel. It is rightfully considered the father of all Russian icebreakers with nuclear reactors. He worked for 30 years (1959-1989), and today it is a museum of ice victories in Murmansk.
- Project "Taimyr" - two icebreakers with reduceddraft allowing navigation in the mouths of the northern rivers. The power of icebreakers on the shafts is 35.5 MW, the displacement is 21 tons. Both - "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" - in the ranks.
- Icebreaking transport vessel "Sevmorput" -the largest displacement (almost 62 thousand tons) of existing icebreakers. Independently overcomes the ice up to a meter thick. After the scheduled repair in 2016 again in service.
- The largest project "Arctic" - sixnuclear powered ships with a capacity of 55 MW, which are able to push through ice three meters thick. The displacement is also not small - 23 tons. The legendary icebreaker "Arktika" (project 10520), which in 1977 was the first in the world to reach the North Pole point, is a bright representative of this project. Today, three ships of this series are in service - the Yamal, 50 Years of Victory and the Soviet Union. The last project of the series, the 2220, is nuclear-powered ships with an installation capacity of 60 MW capable of pushing ice up to 3 meters, working in the ocean and in shallow estuaries, and also transforming into a fighting machine if necessary.
Tasks of the icebreaking fleet of Russia
All our icebreakers are designed to provide the advantage of the country in the waters of the Arctic when the ice season comes. But the range of tasks for icebreakers is wider:
- Providing cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route. In recent years, it has grown almost three times compared with the flow of the 1990s. And it continues to grow.
- Providing hydrocarbon projects in the Arctic.
- Study of the hydrometeorological regime of the water area.
- The study of the mineral potential of the Arctic shelf zone.
- Providing expeditions to the North Pole drifting polar station and remote island territories.
- Development of tourism and attraction of foreign investors in the development of the infrastructure of the North.
Project "Taimyr"
The Soviet project 10580 is two ships - the headof the same name and the production nuclear-powered icebreaker "Vaigach" - with hulls built at the shipyard "Vartsila Marine Technique" (Helsinki, Finland) in the eighties of the last century. Steel was used by the Soviet, the KLT-40M reactor was also Soviet-made. The equipment was installed at the Baltic Shipbuilding Plant (Leningrad). The icebreakers of the series are ready to work at temperatures up to minus 50 degrees Celsius, they have a reduced draft. This allows them to work in the mouths of northern rivers. The reactor facility allows the atomic icebreaker Vaigach to develop a maximum speed of 2 knots when passing through the ice 1.78 meters thick. A single-reactor plant has a capacity of 50 horsepower.
Specifications
Nuclear icebreaker "Vaigach", serial icebreakerThe project has a slightly more improved performance in contrast to the head. The ship was named after the eponymous icebreaker of the twentieth century, which crashed in the Yenisei Gulf (1918). The atomic icebreaker "Vaigach" (its port of registry - Murmansk) was commissioned in 1990 and immediately began work. The length of the hull is 151.8 meters with a width of 29.2 meters. Low draft - 8.1 meters. The nuclear plant is a one-reactor KLT-40M with a capacity of 171 MW, the power plant is two turbogenerators. The icebreaker passes ice 1.77 meters thick and is capable of entering the mouths of rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean. It has a displacement of about 21 tons of power on the shafts of 35.5 MW, and three propellers provide the icebreaker with open-water speed of 18.5 knots. The autonomy of the Vaigach nuclear icebreaker is 7.5 months. Crew - 100 people.
A spoon of tar was a spoon of honey
Fire on board in December 2011the icebreaker that killed two people turned out to be an indicator of the overall safety of a nuclear installation. The fire occurred in the residential compartment, the causes were overloading of networks and the fire of the computer system unit. The actions of the crew fire was quickly eliminated. The development of the emergency took place according to the worst scenario foreseen in the technological project: with strong smoke and the rapid spread of fire around the ship. According to the results of the interdepartmental inspection, it was concluded that the nuclear-powered ship team is ready for abnormal situations and the safety of a nuclear reactor meets all international requirements. The actions of the first rank captain Vasily Golokhvastov and other crew members were adequate and evaluated by the Russian government. For the courage shown in extinguishing a fire, the motorman of the atomic branch Pavel Bozhuyev in 2014 was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. And the experience of eliminating this emergency situation was used in the development of technical conditions for new projects of icebreakers.
Record crossing on the Northern Sea Route
Именно «Вайгач» в декабре 2015 года установил speed record of the latest passage from Cape Dezhnev along the Northern Sea Route to Bely Island. He covered a distance of 2,250 miles in 185 hours. The average speed of the icebreaker was 12.5 knots. No one has yet broken this record, and the Soviet icebreaker “Vaigach” is just early enough to write off the nuclear one.
Resource extended
Executed in April 2017 under the direction ofReactor Designer JSC "Design Bureau them. I.I. Afrikantova ”(Nizhny Novgorod) work on the extension of the life of the reactor of the atomic icebreaker“ Vaigach ”ended successfully. For the first time, the life of a reactor facility has been extended from 175 thousand to 200 thousand hours. Now the icebreaker will serve until 2022. The last scheduled repair in the port of Murmansk "Vaigach" is again in the ranks of the monsters of the ice expanses. The same procedure awaits the nuclear icebreaker Taimyr, the lead ship of the project. By the end of this year, the Atomflot Federal State Unitary Enterprise expects to completely eliminate the so-called “ice break” in northern navigation and enter the year-round wiring of vessels using the 2220 Arktika icebreakers under construction, the first of which (the nuclear icebreaker Arktika) already It is located in the port of Murmansk.
Unique "Sevmorput"
Стоит сказать несколько слов об этом уникальном a ship of ice spaces inherited from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and having a difficult fate, but happily ending. It was founded in 1984, descended from the stocks of the Kerch factory “Zaliv” in 1988. A monster with a five-story house (height -18 meters), an open water speed of 20 knots and the ability to break the ice up to a meter thick with a displacement of 62 tons, struck the imagination. During the first years of its life, it flew friendly flights to Vietnam, Korea, People’s Republic of China and Saudi Arabia. And only in 1993 the ship saw the northern ice when he began to work on the route Murmansk - the port of Dudinka of the Northern Sea Route. From 2007 to 2012, the ship was idle due to a lack of funds for the purchase of fuel, and it was decided to stop the nuclear reactor and remove it from the ship registry. The ship was awaiting scrapping and scrapping. But in 2013, the Northern Sea Route icebreaking ship was decided to be restored, and in 2015 the lighter carrier returned to the Arctic waters. So the ship, able to take on board 47 three hundred-ton flat-bottomed container bases (lighters), returned to life.
And finally
В ожидании суперсовременных атомных ледоколов the project 2220 “Arctic” and the project LK-110Я “Leader” one-shot low-setter workers “Taimyr” and “Vaigach” continue to conquer the ice hummocks of the Arctic waters. The salvation from ice captivity in the winter months of 2011 was about 250 ships from the Gulf of Finland - albeit a significant, but not the only loud victory for the nuclear-powered vessel Vaigach. And while the ultramodern ice-water monsters are undergoing revision, their smaller, but hard-working counterparts continue their stern watch in the waters of the Arctic Ocean, ensuring the uninterrupted development of the harsh and promising Arctic.
