- Nuclear powered icebreaker
A nuclear powered
icebreaker is a purpose-builtship for use in waters continuously covered withice . Icebreakers are ships capable of cruising on ice-covered water by breaking through the ice with their strong, heavy, steel bows. Nuclear powered icebreakers are far more powerful than theirdiesel powered counterparts, and have been constructed byRussia primarily to aid shipping in the frozenArctic waterways in the north ofSiberia .During the
winter , the ice along the northern seaways varies in thickness from 1.2 to 2.0metre s (3.9 to 6.5 feet). The ice in central parts of theArctic Ocean is on average 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) thick. Nuclear-powered icebreakers can force through this ice at speeds up to 10 knots (19 km/h). In ice-free waters the maximum speed of the nuclear-powered icebreakers is as much as 21 knots (35 km/h).Uses of nuclear-powered icebreakers
The nuclear ice breakers of the "Arktika" (Arctic) design are used to force through the ice for the benefit of cargo ships and other vessels along the northern seaway. The northern seaway comprises the eastern part of the
Barents Sea , thePetchora Sea , theKara Sea , theLaptev Sea and theEastern Siberia Sea to theBering Strait . Important ports on the northern seaway are, among others, Dikson,Tiksi , andPevek .Two nuclear-powered icebreakers, NS "Vaigach" and NS "Taimyr", have been built for shallow waters and are usually used on the river Yenisei to Dikson, where they break through the ice followed by cargo ships with lumber from Igarka and cargo ships with ore and metals from the Norilsk Company's port
Dudinka . These nuclear powered icebreakers can also be used as fireboats.The icebreakers have also been used for a number of scientific expeditions in the Arctic. On
August 17 1977 , the NS "Arktika" was the first surface vessel in the world to reach theNorth Pole . Since 1989, some icebreakers have been used for Arctic tourism cruises.Russian nuclear icebreakers
In all, ten civilian nuclear powered vessels have been built in
Russia . Nine of these are icebreakers, and one is a container ship with an ice-breaking bow. All nuclear-powered icebreakers of the NS Arktika design have been built at theAdmiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg. The NS Vaigach and NS Taimyr were built at theHelsinki New Shipyard inFinland and then brought to Russia for installation of the reactors and steam propulsion systems.Lenin class
At its launch in
1957 the icebreaker NS "Lenin" was both the world's first nuclear powered surface ship and the first nuclear powered civilian vessel. "Lenin" was put into ordinary operation in1959 . "Lenin" had twonuclear accident s, the first in 1965, and the second in 1967. The second accident resulted in one of the threeOK-150 reactor s being damaged beyond repair. All three reactors were removed, and replaced by twoOK-900 reactor s; the ship returned to service in 1970. The "Lenin" was taken out of operation in November 1989 and laid up atAtomflot , the base for nuclear powered icebreakers, in theMurmansk Fjord . Conversion to amuseum ship was scheduled to be completed during 2005.Arktika class
Arktika class icebreakers are the bulk of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet; six of Russia's ten nuclear civilian ships are Arktikas. Since they have been built over a period of thirty years, there is a fair bit of variation between ships of the class; thus specifications are listed as a range of values. In general, the newer ships are larger, faster, and require smaller crews.
Specifications:
*Length: 148 m to 159 m (approximately 136 m at the waterline)
*Beam: 30 m (28 m at the waterline)
*Draft: approximately 11.08 m.
*Height (keel to masthead): approximately 55 m
*Displacement: 23,000 to 25,000 tons
*Maximum speed: 18 to 22 knots
*Cruising speed: approximately 18 to 20 knots
*Crew: 138 to over 200
*Passengers: approximately 100
*Reactors: 2 OK-900A, 171 megawatt each
*Propulsion: 3 propellers totalling approximately 75,000 hp
*Maximum Ice Thickness: 2 to 2.8 m
*Endurance: 7.5 months at sea, 4 years between refuelingsArktika-class icebreakers have a
double hull , with the outer hull being approximately 48 mm thick at the ice-breaking areas and 25 mm thick elsewhere. There is water ballast between the inner and outer hulls which can be shifted to aid icebreaking. Icebreaking is also assisted by an air bubbling system which can deliver 24 m³/s of water from jets 9 m below the surface. Some ships havepolymer coated hulls to reducefriction . Arktika-class ships can break ice while making way either forwards or backwards. These ships must cruise in cold water, in order to cool their reactors. As a result, they cannot pass through the tropics to undertake voyages in theSouthern Hemisphere . Although they have two reactors, normally only one is used to provide power, with the other being maintained in a standby mode.Some ships carry one or two
helicopter s and several Zodiac boats. Radio and satellite systems can include navigation,telephone ,fax , andemail capabilities.Most nuclear powered icebreakers in the Russian service today have a
swimming pool , asauna , a cinema, and agym nasium. In the restaurants aboard there is a bar and facilities for live music performances. Some alsohave alibrary and at least one has avolleyball court.Individual Ships
On
1977-08-17 , the NS "Arktika" ("Arctic") became the first surface ship ever to reach theNorth Pole .The NS "Arktika" and NS "Sibir" ("Siberia") are presently not in operation but are stationed at Atomflot for extensive repair. Among other things, the nuclear reactors and turbine generators are to be upgraded as these do not satisfy the safety standards established for newer nuclear powered icebreakers. The "Arktika"'s reactors have operated for over 150,000 hours, and research is underway to determine if they can be refitted to yield another 25,000 to 50,000 hours of service.
Neither the NS "Arktika", nor the NS "Sibir" might ever come into operation again due to the operational economics. Unless there is a significant increase of transport in the Arctic it will not be profitable to operate all six Arktika-class icebreakers. It is to be expected that the oldest icebreakers would be the first ones to be taken out of operation.
The NS "Rossiya" ("Russia") carries two helicopters. "Rossiya" was used to transport anexpedition of around 40
West German s to the North Pole in the Summer of 1990; this may have been the first non-communist charter of a nuclear icebreaker. "Rossiya" was in refit as of December 2004.The NS "Sovetskiy Soyuz" ("Soviet Union") was trapped in ice for three days in 1998. In 2004, it was one of three icebreakers used for an Arctic
ice core expedition intended to researchclimate change andglobal warming . One tourism operator [http://www.polarcruises.co.uk/arctic/north-pole-cruise.htm lists it] as being possibly used for North Pole cruises.The NS "Yamal" is mostly used for tourism and scientific expeditions. It has 50 passenger cabins and suites, and carries one helicopter. The crew is 150, including 50 officers and engineers. "Yamal" was the 12th surface ship ever to reach the North Pole.
The NS "50 Lyet Pobyedi" ("50 Years of Victory") is the final "Arktika" class ship. It was launched from the shipyard at
Saint Petersburg onDecember 29 ,1993 as the NS "Ural", and delivered toMurmansk in 1994. It was later renamed and not actually completed and commissioned until 2006 due to funding delays. The crew is expected to normally number 138 persons. It has an environmental waste processing module added to the hull which accounts for 9 m of the ship's 159 m length; this makes it the largest of the "Arktika" class and the largest nuclear powered icebreaker in the world. It carries two Ka-32 helicopters. It entered service onApril 2 ,2007 .Taimyr class
"Taimyr" is also sometimes spelled "Taymyr" in English, and "Vaigach" is sometimes spelled "Vayguch". The ships were built at the
Helsinki New Shipyard inFinland byWärtsilä . The nuclear reactors were installed at the LeningradBaltic Shipyard in the Soviet Union after delivery from Finland. [ [http://bellona.org/english_import_area/international/russia/civilian_nuclear_vessels/icebreakers/30107 Nuclear icebreakers] atBellona .org]Taimyr class specifications:
*Length: 150.2 m ("Taimyr"), 151.8 m ("Vaiguch")
*Beam: 29.2 m
*Draft: 8.0 m
*Height: 15.2 m keel to main deck, 8 stories from main deck to bridge
*Displacement: 20,000 tons
*Speed: 18.5 knots
*Crew: 120 to 138
*Reactors: One KLT-40M reactor producing 135 MW
*Propulsion: 3 propellers totalling 52,000 hpThe bow hull plating is approximately 32 mm thick. As of December 2004, both vessels were undergoing refitting.
Future icebreakers
Russia is planning to start building new icebreakers after 2010.In Jun 2008 the head of the state nuclear corporation Rosatom,
Sergei Kiriyenko , said "It is important to not only use the existing fleet of icebreakers, but also to build new ships, and the first nuclear icebreaker of a new generation will be built by2015 . This should be an icebreaker capable of moving in rivers and seas," he said. He went on saying that theIceberg Design Bureau inSt. Petersburg would prepare the design of the icebreaker by 2009. [ [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080609/109670225.html RIA Novosti - Russia - New Russian nuclear icebreaker 'will be built by 2015' ] ]Infrastructure
Support facilities include the fuel transports "Imandra" and "Lotta" which are used for refuelling and spent fuel. The "Volodarsky" is used for storage of solid waste; it can hold 300 cubic meters. "Serebryanka" is a tanker used for liquid waste which can hold 1000 cubic meters of material. The "Rosta-1" boat is used for radiation monitoring and control, including sanitization of workers.
A third fuel vessel, "Lepse", is filled with spent nuclear fuel elements, many of them damaged and thus difficult to handle. The vessel was used for illegal dumping of nuclear waste in the Barents and Kara Seas during the period 1963-1984. ["The Nuclear Waste Ship History" http://www.bellona.org/english_import_area/about_bellona/33320, Filippov, Sergey; Accessed 05/02/2007] During a dumping operation in 1984, "Lepse" encountered very rough seas, and high-level reactor waste mixed with water was splashed all over the inside of the cargo compartment. The contamination was so severe that the crew was forced to immediately return to port at the Atomflot harbor with most of the nuclear waste still in the hold. The ship was immediately recognized as being far too dangerous to decontaminate and return to service, and has been essentially abandoned with a cargo hold full of leaking spent reactor fuel vessels, in the harbor for over 15 years. It forms one of the world's most difficult and potentially dangerous nuclear waste disposal problems; an accident there could release more radiation than the
Chernobyl catastrophe into the immediate vicinity ofMurmansk .Fact|date=June 2007 A small crew monitors the ship on a constant basis while Russia tries to raise the money and perform the research needed for safe disposal.In all, about 2,000 people work aboard the icebreakers, the nuclear powered
container ship , and aboard the service and storage ships stationed at the Atomflot harbour. The crew on the civil nuclear powered vessels receive special training at the Makarov college in St. Petersburg, Russia.Icebreakers generally try to navigate paths with the least possible ice in order to make speedier progress and to help ensure that they do not become trapped in ice too thick for them to break. In the 1970s and 1980s, land-based aircraft would observe and map the ice to help with course plotting. Over time, most of this work has been taken over by satellite surveillance systems, sometimes aided by the helicopters carried by the icebreakers.
Arctic tourism
Since 1989 the nuclear powered icebreakers have also been used for tourist purposes carrying passengers to the North Pole. Each participant pays up to US$ 25,000 for cruises lasting three weeks. The NS "Sibir" was used for the first two tourist cruises in 1989 and 1990. In 1991 and 1992, the tourist trips to the North Pole were undertaken by NS "Sovyetski Soyuz". During the summer of 1993 the NS "Yamal" was used for three tourist expeditions in the
Arctic . The NS "Yamal" has a separate accommodation section for tourists. The NS "50 Let Pobedy" contains an accommodation deck customised for tourists.Quark Expeditions has chartered the nuclear-powered icebreaker "50 Years of Victory" for expeditions to the North Pole in 2008. The vessel's maiden voyage to the North Pole embarks in Murmansk, June 24, 2008. The ship will carry 128 guests in 64 cabins in 5 categories. "50 Years of Victory" will complete a total of 3 expeditions to the North Pole in 2008 for the polar adventure company.
ee also
*
List of civilian nuclear ships
*Nuclear marine propulsion References
External links
* [http://english.pravda.ru/science/tech/01-03-2006/76685-icebreaker-0 Pravda: Russia Builds World's Biggest Nuclear Icebreaker]
* [http://www.bellona.org/subjects/1140451072.49 Nuclear Powered Icebreakers] ,Bellona Foundation
* [http://atomic.msco.ru/cgi-bin/common.cgi?lang=eng&skin=menu2&fn=technic Technical information] , MSCO
* [http://www.unipublic.unizh.ch/magazin/umwelt/2006/1992/Vortrag_Kuznetsov.pdf Presentation on Safety of Current Russian Nuclear Facilities]
* [http://nks.svanhovd.no/nuc_ship/icebreaker.html Nordic Nuclear Safety Icebreakers page]
* [http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/naval/civilian/icebrkrs.htm NTI Icebreaker page] , also [http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/naval/civilian/servtab.htm Service Ship Table] and [http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/naval/nucflt/norflt/atomflot.htm Atomflot page]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1XMZTzELaE Video of nuclear Icebreaker Yamal visiting the North Pole in 2001]
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