Mar/25

Russian Nuclear Icebreakers on the Northern Sea Route

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Overview, Photos, Technology

As of 2025, Russia is the only country in the world that has a nuclear icebreaker fleet. Nuclear icebreakers ensure safe navigation in the Arctic and are a key link in the work on the Northern Sea Route.

Today’s Russian universal nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 can operate without refueling for up to 7 years, and their food supplies last for more than half a year. Even the crew changes at sea when the icebreakers meet in the ice. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

Modern icebreakers have taken work in the Arctic to a new level. They allow navigation periods to be significantly extended, provide cargo ship escort and perform naval tasks in the Arctic, and participate in expeditions to the North Pole.

When plotting a route, places with cracks or thinner ice are chosen to ensure the safety of the ship being escorted and to maintain optimal speed. Because of this, the route sometimes turns out to be very winding.

Currently, the active icebreaker fleet of Russia includes 8 nuclear icebreakers and 1 nuclear container ship. They perform more than 800 ship escorts per year. By 2030, the fleet will consist of 12 nuclear-powered ships.

The Arctic is the name for the entire area of our planet beyond the Arctic Circle. The area of the Russian sector is about 9 million square kilometers. This is a very promising territory both in terms of mineral resources and in terms of transport routes.

The nuclear-powered icebreaker is controlled from the bridge, which is located at a height of more than 30 m above sea level. From this point, in clear weather, visibility is 11-12 nautical miles. The width of the bridge is 34 m – the same as the width of the icebreaker itself.

Icebreakers of Project 22220 have 2 nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 60 MW, they can pass through ice up to 3 meters thick, and reach a speed of 22 knots (more than 40 km/h). Four nuclear-powered icebreakers of this project have already been commissioned: Arktika (Arctic), Sibir (Siberia), Ural and Yakutia. Next in line are the icebreakers Chukotka, Leningrad and Stalingrad.

Some of the largest natural gas and gas condensate fields are located here, and the Northern Sea Route allows for the transportation of goods between Europe and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region along the shortest shipping route. Most Arctic projects involve nuclear icebreakers.

The icebreaker has powerful external lighting – spotlights, LED systems. This allows working in conditions of poor visibility (snowstorms, fog, polar night).

Icebreakers operate in very difficult conditions. The thickness of ice in the Arctic Ocean can reach 4.5 m. On 3-meter ice, nuclear-powered icebreakers of Project 22220 can move at a speed of up to 3.7 km/h, and overcome a 1.5-meter ice cover at a speed of about 22 km/h.

One of the main tasks of icebreakers is escorting single ships and convoys. Sometimes the escort is carried out along the entire route, sometimes the icebreaker is sent to help ships that are stuck in the ice.

The Arktika icebreakers are fairly large vessels – over 173 m long, 34 m wide, 52 m high. However, a relatively small crew is needed to operate them – only 54 people.

Modern nuclear icebreakers resemble floating towns – on board there is everything to provide comfortable living conditions for the crew. Living quarters are located in the superstructure on the deck – this is a full-fledged multi-story building. Inside, everything looks like a regular building – there are wide staircases, elevators. In winter, the temperature outside can drop to -50 °C.

The cabins are similar to hotel rooms – inside there is a separate bathroom, shower, work area with a desk, refrigerator, and sofa.

Icebreakers are completely autonomous. They have their own gyms, swimming pool, sauna, television, satellite Internet, etc.

The Northern Sea Route is very important for the development of the economy of the northern regions and Russia as a whole. It helps to create a single logistics space from Murmansk to Vladivostok and unites the waters of the western sea border of Russia to the Asia-Pacific region.