Control assembly of the second RITM-400 reactor unit for Rossiya, the world’s most powerful nuclear icebreaker, has been completed at the ZiO-Podolsk plant (part of Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division). It will allow year-round navigation of vessels in the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route and will give an impetus to the development of the Arctic.
Control assembly is the final process in the manufacture of the reactor, during which the compatibility of all equipment elements is checked before delivery to the shipyard.
The main power plant of the icebreaker includes two RITM-400s. The first one was completed in May. Because of the greater power of the equipment, which will the vessel to go through four-metre-thick ice, the reactor plants were given the names of Russian heroes – Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets.
“Rosatom’s engineering division provides reactor equipment to all of the country’s newest nuclear icebreaking fleet,” said Igor Kotov, head of Rosatom’s Engineering Division. “The RITM-200 installations we have already produced enable the operation of Project 22220 nuclear-powered ships on the Northern Sea Route. Now we have completed work on the RITM-400s for the nuclear icebreaker Rossiya, which will become the most powerful in the world. In total, including these two large reactors, we have manufactured 12 RITM series reactor units. There are 14 more under construction for the nuclear icebreaking fleet and small-scale nuclear energy projects.”
It took three years to produce these two powerful marine installations, during which 100 production secrets were used, and seven inventions were patented.
“The RITM-400 is an improved version of the RITM-200,” said Anton Lebedev, head of ZiO-Podolsk. “The design is unique in that the steam generators are located inside the housing, which significantly reduces the size and weight of the equipment. These are the two most important parameters in shipbuilding. No one has done this before, but we have been able to. In a very short time for such a grandiose project, we have assembled two reactor installations, the commissioning of which will completely change the logistics along the Northern Sea Route.”
The RITM-400 reactor plant is designed to be used as the main energy source for a new generation of nuclear icebreakers, which are considered the most powerful in the world. This evolutionary development of the RITM-200 has an increased thermal capacity of 315 MW, greater than any other marine reactor installation.
The heavy-duty Rossiya is the lead nuclear icebreaker of project 10510. The vessel is being built in the Far East. After commissioning, it will enable year-round transportation for the commercial fleet along the Northern Sea Route. To date, 10 RITM-200s have been manufactured and shipped for the Project 22220 nuclear-icebreakers Arctic, Ural, Siberia, Yakutia and Chukotka, eight of which have already proven their effectiveness in the Far North.
In 2018, the Russian Government granted Rosatom the authority of infrastructure operator for the Northern Sea Route. Rosatom oversees the federal project Development of the Northern Sea Route, and is also involved in implementing the plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route to 2035 and the initiative for socio-economic development of the Russian Federation to 2030 Year-round Northern Sea Route, approved by the Government. One of Rosatom’s strategic goals is to make the NSR an effective transport artery connecting Europe, Russia and the Asia-Pacific region. In December 2024, a federal project was approved for the development of the “Great” Northern Sea Route, a transport corridor from St Petersburg and Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.
