As the world’s only nuclear icebreaker fleet turns 65, Russia might build four icebreakers in India

The world’s first nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Lenin, was launched on December 3, 1959, and it became the lead ship of what still is the world’s only nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet which boasts seven vessels now.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the fleet, which is currently owned by Atomflot Federal State Unitary Enterprise aka FSUE Atomflot, a subsidiary of the state-owned Rosatom. With climate change opening newer sea routes, icebreakers are at the vanguard of the maritime push into former icefields.

Hard ships and harder sailors

While the ice has been thinning over the years, icebreakers are growing in power. The Lenin was powered by two nuclear reactors and so are the latest three icebreakers produced under Russia’s Project 22220—the Arktika, Siberia and Ural. But the similarities end there. The new universal nuclear icebreakers’ twin nuclear power plants produce a combined thermal capacity of 350 MW against the Lenin’s 318 MW. And the new icebreakers boast “60 MW of delivered horsepower” against the Lenin’s 32MW. 

The Lenin was designed to operate for up to four years without refuelling in the harsh Arctic environment. The innovative design of the universal nuclear icebreakers allows the vessels to “operate for up to seven years without refuelling and navigate ice up to 2.9m thick”.

Murmansk is the home of the Atomflot icebreaking fleet. And if you are ever in the port city, do look up the Lenin, which is a museum ship now after escorting 3,741 ships through the treacherous Arctic ice.

The Lenin, the world’s first nuclear-powered icebreaker

During the anniversary celebration in Murmansk, Alexey Likhachev, director general of Rosatom, credited the sailors as much as the icebreakers in his written message: “Three new nuclear-powered icebreakers have already been commissioned, and the Yakutia nuclear-powered icebreaker will join the fleet very soon. Four more vessels, including the Rossiya heavy-duty icebreaker, are under construction. But the most important thing that makes Atomflot proud is its crew, the brave polar seamen who conquer the Arctic every day. There are no other people with such knowledge and experience in any other country in the world.”

The Northeast Passage

The Russian icebreakers will play an important role in ensuring safe passage through the Northeast Passage (NEP) and the Northern Sea Route (NSR). While the names are often used interchangeably, a loose definition would be that “the NEP is NSR plus the Barents Sea”. This maritime route in the Arctic Ocean connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through the Arctic. According to Wikipedia, “if the distance from the port of Murmansk (Russia) to the port of Yokohama (Japan) through the Suez Canal is 12,840 nautical miles, the same itinerary along the Northern Sea Route equals only 5,770 nautical miles.” And that is why all eyes are on this passage.

And it is not all commercial shipping in the region. Reportedly, on September 28, an HC-130J Super Hercules patrol out of US Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, sighted two Russian Border Guard vessels and two Chinese Coast Guard cutters transiting the Bering Sea in formation. 

The patrol reported that the vessels were well within the Russian Exclusive Economic Zone and “approximately 440 miles southwest of St. Lawrence Island”, which is the sixth-largest island in the United States. Defence experts had said then that the joint patrol was in keeping with Beijing’s claim that non-Arctic states, too, had a right to launch civilian operations in the region.

Building in India

This October, reports on maritime websites suggested that Rosatom was planning to build four non-nuclear icebreakers in India. While details were awaited, analysts said that this could have been driven by two factors—1) India’s increased push in the maritime sector and, 2) The sanctions imposed on Russia by the west, restricting its access to materials and technology. If awarded, the Rosatom project is estimated to bill “$713 million”. Maritime media also reported that two of Russia’s biggest shipyards—Zvezda Shipyard and United Shipbuilding Corporation—were set to merge to optimise production. Hence the outsourcing to India—and China.