RITM-200 (nuclear reactor)

2023: Fabrication of the second reactor vessel

At the Zio-Podolsk enterprise (part of JSC, Atomenergomash Engineering Division), the Rosatom second reactor vessel for the new generation icebreaker Chukotka was manufactured. In December 2023, Rosatom announced the completion of the manufacture of RITM-200 reactors for the latest Project 22220 nuclear icebreakers. As the press service of the state corporation clarified, the Zio-Podolsk enterprise (part of Atomenergomash JSC, the engineering division of Rosatom) manufactured the second reactor vessel for the new generation icebreaker Chukotka.

This is the last reactor that the plant manufactures under the current contract for the supply of power plants for a new generation of nuclear-powered ships, the report says. After preparation for transportation, the reactor will be delivered to the shipyards of the Baltic Plant (an enterprise of the USC group), where the construction of Chukotka is currently ongoing.

"RITM-200"

The RITM-200 reactors have proven themselves well on our new universal nuclear icebreakers, making navigation on the Northern Sea Route more efficient. In the future, the same reactors will become the "heart" of floating nuclear power plants, which will provide energy to the Baim ore zone in Chukotka, as well as ground-based ASMM in Yakutia, the words of Rosatom General Director Alexei Likhachev are quoted in the press service.

The RITM- 200 reactor plant, which is equipped with all Russian nuclear icebreakers of project 22220, was developed by the Rosatom machine-building enterprise OKBM Afrikantov (Nizhny Novgorod). The uniqueness of the reactor plant lies in its integral layout, when all equipment is located inside one reactor vessel. Due to this scheme, the installation turned out to be 1.7 times lighter, twice as compact and almost 20% more powerful than the KLT-type reactors previously used on Russian nuclear icebreakers.

"RITM-200 is the most modern and productive ship reactor plant in the world. Several enterprises of the engineering division worked on its creation at once. As a result, the speed and ice penetration of icebreakers has been increased - important characteristics for ships in the context of an increase in cargo traffic, - the press service said the words of the head of the engineering division Igor Kotov.[1]

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