Russia - the only country in the world, which has a fleet of nuclear icebreakers. The basis is six ships of "Arctic" class. In 1977, the lead ship of the project was the first one that reached the North Pole in a surface sailing. Today, nuclear icebreakers are engaged in navigation of ships along the Northern Sea Route and conducting expeditions in the waters of the Arctic Ocean.
More than 350 Soviet enterprises were involved in construction and operation of nuclear icebreakers of this class. Total 6 vessels were created, three of which are still in operation: "The Soviet Union", "Yamal" and "50 Years of Victory." Nuclear icebreaker - a vessel intended to operate in extreme conditions of Far North, it is designed in such a way that you can get in any room without leaving the deck.
Double hull nuclear ship is made of stainless steel and reinforced with additional frames. The thickness of the outer framing reaches 48 mm in places of ice breaking. By the way, class icebreaker "Arktika" can break the ice, moving also backward. For doing this, they need a lot of energy. Each Icebreaker includes two nuclear plants with each capacity of 37.5 thousand horsepower. In 2002, as an experiment, the reactor on the icebreaker "Soviet Union" supplied with energy a port and village which was located near the port.
National design-engineer are proud of the class vessels "Arctic" were and are proud. But progress does not stand still, and icebreakers that phased out, replaced by the new class of nuclear-powered ships LK-60YA (icebreaker with the capacity of 60 MW, Nuclear). These vessels are more versatile, as they can change the draft to enter the mouth of the Siberian rivers. One LK-60YA can replace just two modern icebreaker - class "Arctic" and Class "Taimyr". The first vessel will be launched in 2018.
