Rosatom's nuclear fuel company TVEL said Tuesday that it had developed a new fuel that would double the durability of RITM-200 nuclear reactor cores, which are the type used in the world's largest and most powerful icebreaker.
The Russian 22220 class ship, the Arktika, launched successfully at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in St. Petersburg on June 16, is capable of breaking ice up to almost 10 feet thick, according to various news reports. It is powered by two RITM-200 reactors and is expected to lead convoys through Arctic waters.
The fuel was developed by PJSC MSZ with the help of VNIINM technology, both of which are divisions of SC Rosatom TVEL.
In this project, VNIINM acted as the developer of technology, materials and design for nuclear fuel elements and burnable poison rods, as well as start-up neutron source for the core of the nuclear icebreaker, TVEL said. Poison rods are neutron-absorbing reactivity control assemblies used in the RITM-200 reactors. “We have developed a fuel that has high reliability and huge resources, twice exceeding the core capabilities of the icebreaker of the previous generations, said VNIINM chief examiner Alexander Vatulin.
Following the Arktika, the next generation Sibir icebreaker – the previous Sibir operated from 1977 to 1992 – is expected to be launched and put into service in 2019.