Starboard RITM-200 on Chukotka icebreaker reaches minimum controlled power
Two RITM-200 reactors produce 175 MW of thermal power each, with a 40-year service life and refuelling every seven years.
Key facts
- Both units need physical start-up before a test series of the vessel's nuclear plant
- Units designed to withstand 45-degree roll and 15-degree pitch in Arctic conditions
- Chukotka is the fifth Project 22220 vessel, laid down December 2020 and launched November 2024
- Currently in mooring trials and preparing for factory sea trials, per the Baltic Shipyard
- Fifteen RITM-200 reactors completed so far, with 13 more under construction
The starboard reactor unit on the Chukotka nuclear-powered icebreaker has been brought to minimum controlled power, the Baltic Shipyard said on October 26. The vessel is the fifth Project 22220 icebreaker built at the United Shipbuilding Corporation Baltic Shipyard. It carries two RITM-200 reactors, each producing 175 MW of thermal power, with a 40-year service life and refuelling every seven years.
Once both units have completed physical start-up, with launch equipment calibrated to confirm operation of the reactor, controls, protection and monitoring systems, the nuclear power plant will undergo a series of tests on the vessel. Each unit weighs more than 147 tonnes, is 7.3 meters tall and 3.3 meters in diameter. The units are designed to withstand a roll of up to 45 degrees and a pitch of up to 15 degrees.
Chukotka was laid down in December 2020 and launched in November 2024. It is undergoing mooring trials and preparing for factory sea trials, the shipyard said.