On April 23, Rosatom subsidiary FSUE Atomflot and shipbuilder Zvezda LLC remotely signed a contract on the construction of the nuclear icebreaker Leader (project 10510); the parties were respectively located in Murmansk and Vladivostok.
The document was signed by FSUE Atomflot general director Mustafa Kashka and Zvezda LLC general director Sergey Tseluyko. Zvezda shipbuilding complex is the sole contractor for this Rosatom-commissioned project. As per the terms of the contract, the vessel is expected to be commissioned in 2027.
“Today, an important step has been taken in the history of [Russia’s] nuclear icebreaker fleet,” commented FSUE Atomflot general director Mustafa Kashka. “Leader will be equipped with two state-of-the-art RITM-400 nuclear reactors developed by Rosatom specialists, giving the vessel a total capacity of 120 MW, which will allow it to overcome ice more than 4 meters thick. The commissioning of this nuclear icebreaker will allow us to guarantee safe and regular operations in the eastern region of the Arctic Ocean, year-round navigation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route, and new possibilities for carving out high-latitude commercial routes.”
The nuclear icebreaker, Leader, will be built in accordance with technical specifications delineated by the central design bureau Iceberg and will be equipped with RITM-400 nuclear reactors developed by Rosatom subsidiary, JSC Afrikantov OKBM.
Main characteristics of project 10510’s nuclear icebreaker:
• Power capacity: 120 MW (on propeller shafts);
• Maximal speed: 22 knots (in clear water);
• Length: 209 metres;
• Width: 47.7 metres;
• Maximal ice penetration: 4 metres;
• Displacement: about 69,700 tonnes.
Main power equipment:
• A nuclear power system equipped with two RITM-400 reactors;
• A steam turbine unit equipped with four turbo-generators, each with a power capacity of 37 MW;
• An electric propulsion system equipped with four propeller motors, each with a power capacity of 30 MW.
Rosatomflot operates the world’s only nuclear icebreaker fleet.
The Zvezda shipbuilding complex is based in the city of Bolshoi Kamen of Russia’s Primorsky Territory and is overseen by Rosneft.
(Source and image: Rosatom)