When taking a bath, do not miss the opportunity to do the following experiment. Before leaving the tub, open the outlet while still lying on the bottom. As more and more of your body begins to emerge above the water, you will feel a gradual weight on it. At the same time, you will be convinced in the most obvious way that the weight lost by the body in the water reappears as soon as the body is out of the water.
When a whale involuntarily makes such an experiment, finding itself aground at low tide, the consequences are fatal for the animal: it will be crushed by its own monstrous weight. No wonder whales live in the water element: the buoyant force of the liquid saves them from the disastrous effect of gravity.
The foregoing is closely related to the title of this article. The work of the icebreaker is based on the same physical phenomenon: the part of the ship taken out of the water ceases to be balanced by the buoyant action of the water and acquires its "land" weight. One should not think that the icebreaker cuts the ice on the move with the continuous pressure of its bow - the pressure of the stem. This is not how icebreakers work, but ice cutters. This mode of action is suitable only for relatively thin ice.
Genuine sea icebreakers, such as Krasin or Yermak, work differently. By the action of its powerful machines, the icebreaker pushes its bow onto the surface of the ice, which for this purpose is arranged strongly sloping under water. Once out of the water, the bow of the ship takes on its full weight, and this huge load breaks off the ice. To enhance the action, more water is often pumped into the bow tanks of the icebreaker - “liquid ballast”.
This is how the icebreaker operates until the thickness of the ice does not exceed half a meter. More powerful ice is defeated by the impact action of the vessel. The icebreaker steps back and hits the ice edge with its entire mass. In this case, it is no longer the weight that acts, but kinetic energy a moving ship; the ship turns, as if into an artillery shell of low speed, but of a huge mass, into a ram.
Ice hummocks several meters high are broken by the energy of repeated blows from the strong bow of the icebreaker. A participant in the famous Sibiryakov crossing in 1932, polar explorer N. Markov, describes the operation of this icebreaker as follows:
“Among hundreds of ice rocks, among the continuous cover of ice, the Sibiryakov began the battle. For fifty-two hours in a row, the needle of the machine telegraph jumped from “full back” to “full forward”. Thirteen four-hour sea watches "Sibiryakov" crashed into the ice from acceleration, crushed it with its nose, climbed onto the ice, broke it and again retreated. The ice, three-quarters of a meter thick, gave way with difficulty. With each blow they made their way to a third of the corps.
How does an icebreaker work?
When taking a bath, do not miss the opportunity to do the following experiment. Before leaving the tub, open the outlet while still lying on the bottom. As more and more of your body begins to emerge above the water, you will feel its gradual weighting. In the most illustrative way, you will be convinced at the same time that the weight lost by the body in the water reappears as soon as the body is out of the water.
When a whale involuntarily makes such an experiment, finding itself aground at low tide, the consequences are fatal for the animal: it will be crushed by its own monstrous weight.
No wonder whales live in the water element: the buoyant force of the liquid saves them from the disastrous effect of gravity.
The foregoing is closely related to the work of an icebreaker, which is based on the same physical phenomenon: the part of the ship taken out of the water ceases to be balanced by the buoyant action of the water and acquires its “land” weight.
It should not be thought that the icebreaker cuts through the ice on the move with the continuous pressure of its bow. This is not how icebreakers work, but ice cutters. This mode of action is suitable only for relatively thin ice. If the ice is more powerful, then it is defeated by the impact action of the vessel. The icebreaker steps back and hits the ice edge with its entire mass. In this case, it is no longer the weight that acts. The ship seems to be turning into an artillery shell of low speed, but of a huge mass, into a ram. Ice hummocks several meters high are broken by the energy of repeated blows from the strong bow of the icebreaker. Our country has the largest and most powerful icebreakers in the world.
Icebreaker device
Most ships have narrow decks, a V-shaped hull, an almost vertical bow, and are propelled by the rotation of a propeller that is connected directly to the ship's engine.
It's not like that with icebreakers. These ships are specially adapted for sailing on seas clogged with ice floes or heavy pack ice. Therefore, they are very heavy and lined with steel on the outside, which allows them to break ice 35 feet thick without any dents or holes. Their wide hulls and rounded bottoms also help to avoid such troubles.
Faced with pack ice, a powerful icebreaker lifts its curved nose and leans on the ice with all its weight. This is usually enough to make a pass. To perform such a maneuver, the propeller must push the ship forward with all its might and at the same time not be damaged. Therefore, the propeller of icebreakers is securely hidden under the ship's hull and is driven not by the ship, but by an electric motor. This allows the propeller to spin at an exceptionally low speed.
Japanese icebreaker "Shirazi" 440 feet long
The 440-foot-long Japanese icebreaker Shirazi is powered by three diesel engines, which are paired with electric motors that turn the propeller. The total output power of the icebreaker's engines is 90,000 horsepower.
Techniques for creating passages in ice seas
The help of icebreakers is required to open and navigate the Arctic seas: to oil developments, isolated scientific and military bases, to strategically important northern ports. Thin ice easily surrenders to these powerful ships, and they take it with a head-on ram. When it is necessary to break a floating ice floe or expand an open passage in the ice, the icebreaker, with the help of water overflowing in heeling tanks from one side to the other, leans to the side - as shown in the right figure. With such swaying, the ship's hull cuts and crushes the ice fields. Some icebreakers have additional lateral propellers mounted in the keel to facilitate rocking.
Performing icebreaking work using a roll
Having met pack ice, the icebreaker climbs it with its nose. At the same time, fuel from the bow ballast tank is poured into the stern tank. When the entire bow of the ship is securely perched on the ice, the pumps begin pumping fuel back into the bow ballast tank. This extra weight is usually enough to make the ice give way and move aside.
When the commander is on the suspension bridge, he can look down on his ship, which was created in order to awaken the polar seas to life. A typical icebreaker is wider than a typical ship of the same length. This adds to its stability and carrying capacity. The bowl-shaped profile of the bottom makes it easy to climb into such ice fields that would simply wipe out an ordinary vessel. The steep bevel of the bow is made so that the icebreaker, sliding, easily climbs onto the pack ice. And with the usual shape of the nose, the ship can only poke on such ice. The ship's icebreaker engine rotates an electric generator. The generator powers the engine, which turns the propeller. This allows the best possible control of the ship's speed.
nuclear icebreaker
Today, about 300,000 people live in the port city of Murmansk. The figure is not impressive, however, it is the largest city in the world located beyond the Arctic Circle.
The port is located on the Kola Bay, which never freezes even despite the polar latitudes, thanks to which ships and ships from all over the world can enter here. all year round. Thanks to the warm ocean currents, the Barents Sea is not completely covered with ice, and in the city itself it is not so cold in winter. Originating in the Caribbean, the Gulf Stream rushes across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, washing the shores of Great Britain and Iceland along the way. The thermal power of this flow is equivalent to a million nuclear power plants. This is enough for the climate of Northern Europe to be mild and the Barents Sea to remain navigable all year round. Further, where there is no warm current east of Novaya Zemlya, the only ships that can sail freely are icebreakers. A very important transport corridor passes through the ice of the Arctic - the Northern Sea Route through the ports of Murmansk-Salekhard-Dudinka. It not only opens up access to the territories of Eastern Siberia, but is also a promising route for international shipping. The route from the North Sea to the Sea of Japan through the Suez Canal past pirate Somalia is 23,000 km, and if an icebreaker crosses the Arctic Ocean, then only 14,000.
The Lenin, built in 1959, was the world's first nuclear-powered icebreaker. Of course, before him there were diesel and steam icebreakers, but it was the nuclear ones that made it possible to take a completely new look at the development of the Arctic expanses. With the advent of nuclear-powered ships, navigation along the Northern Sea Route became possible all year round. The main advantage of a nuclear icebreaker is autonomy. It does not need to replenish its coal and diesel fuel reserves. This allowed the Lenin nuclear-powered icebreaker to cover 150,000 km in the first 6 years of operation and navigate more than 400 ships along the Northern Sea Route. It was replaced by the nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, which laid the foundation for a whole family of icebreaking ships of the same class. In 1977, the Arktika became the first ship in the world to reach the North Pole while on the surface. The special design of the icebreaker's hull makes it possible to break through three-meter ice.
nuclear icebreaker very similar to a steamship. The principle of its operation can be briefly described as follows: a nuclear reactor turns water into steam, the steam spins the generator turbines, the generator generates electricity, which in turn goes to electric motors that rotate 3 propellers.
The hull of the icebreaker reaches its strength, and it needs to be strong, because. he breaks and pushes ice blocks with his weight, due to the frames, or, as they are called in common language, stiffeners. The hull is made of double steel 5 cm thick, so that when the first layer is pierced, water will not enter the compartments of the icebreaker itself, only one of the sectors of the hull plating will be filled.
The nuclear icebreaker "50 let Pobedy" has 2 nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 340 megawatts. If the reactors operate around the clock, then this will be enough to supply the city of Novosibirsk with a population of 2 million people with electricity. The reactors themselves are very well protected, and even if a passenger plane falls on the icebreaker, the reactor will not be damaged. They also work for a long time: it has enough fuel for 5 years of operation.
Sources: allforchildren.ru, www.ljpoisk.ru, potomy.ru, information-technology.ru, korabley.net, vse-krugom.ru, forum.worldofwarships.ru
Elohim
The word Jehovah appeared as a result of an inaccuracy committed when trying to read the unpronounceable name of God by a Jew. During...
In essence, a nuclear-powered icebreaker is a steamship. The nuclear reactor heats water, which turns into steam, which spins turbines that excite generators that generate electricity, which goes to electric motors that turn 3 propellers.
The thickness of the hull in places where the ice breaks is 5 centimeters, but the strength of the hull is given not so much by the thickness of the skin, but by the number and location of the frames. The icebreaker has a double bottom, so that in the event of a hole, water will not enter the ship.
The nuclear icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy" has 2 nuclear reactors with a capacity of 170 megawatts each. The power of these two installations is enough to supply electricity to a city with a population of 2 million people.
Nuclear reactors are reliably protected from accidents and external shocks. The icebreaker can withstand a direct hit in the reactor of a passenger aircraft or a collision with the same icebreaker at speeds up to 10 km/h.
Reactors are filled with new fuel every 5 years!
We had a short tour of the engine room of the icebreaker, photos of which are under the cut. Plus, I will show where we ate, what we ate, how the rest of the interior of the icebreaker rested ...
The tour began in the office of the chief engineer. He briefly spoke about the structure of the icebreaker and where we would go during the tour. Since the group was mostly foreigners, everything was translated first into English, and then into Japanese:
3. 
2 turbines, each of which simultaneously rotates 3 generators, produce alternating current. In the background, the yellow boxes are the rectifiers. Since the propulsion motors are powered by direct current, it must be rectified:
4. 
5. 
Rectifiers:
6. 
Electric motors that rotate the propellers. This place is very noisy and is located 9 meters below the waterline. The total draft of the icebreaker is 11 meters:
7. 
The steering machine looks very impressive. On the bridge, the helmsman turns a small steering wheel with his finger, and here huge pistons turn the steering wheel astern:
8. 
And this is the top of the steering wheel. He himself is in the water. The icebreaker is much more maneuverable than conventional ships:
9. 
Desalination plants:
10. 
They produce 120 tons of fresh water per day:
11. 
Water can be tasted directly from the distiller. I drank - plain distilled water:
12. 
Auxiliary boilers:
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
The ship provides a lot of degrees of protection against emergency situations. One of them is extinguishing fires with carbon dioxide:
18. 
19. 
Purely in Russian - oil drips from under the gasket. Instead of replacing the gasket, they just hung the jar. Believe it or not, it's the same at my house. I have a heated towel rail leaking in the same way, so I still haven’t replaced it, but I just pour out a bucket of water once a week:
20. 
Wheelhouse:
21. 
The icebreaker is operated by 3 people. The watch lasts 4 hours, that is, each shift carries a watch, for example, from 4 pm to 8 pm and from 4 am to 8 am, the next from 8 pm to midnight and from 8 am to noon, etc. Only 3 shifts.
The watch consists of a helmsman who directly turns the helm, a Watch Chief who gives commands to the sailor where to turn the rudder and is responsible for the entire ship and an officer on duty who makes entries in the logbook, marks the position of the ship on the map and helps the Watch Chief.
The senior watch usually stood in the left wing of the bridge, where all the equipment necessary for navigation was installed. The three large levers in the middle are the handles of machine telegraphs that control the speed of the propellers. Each of them has 41 positions - 20 forward, 20 back and stop:
22. 
Steering sailor. Pay attention to the size of the steering wheel:
23. 
Radio room. From here I sent photos:
24. 
On the icebreaker great amount ladders, including several representative:
25. 
Corridors and doors to cabins.
26. 
The bar where we whiled away the sunny white nights:
27. 
Library. I don’t know what books are usually there, because for our cruise the books were brought from Canada and they were all in English:
29. 
Icebreaker lobby and reception window:
30. 
Mailbox. I wanted to send myself a postcard from the North Pole, but I forgot:
31. 
Swimming pool and saunas:
32. 
Gym:
33. 
34. 
In front of the entrance to the restaurant hung a special ball with an alcohol solution:
35. 
Boarding was free and many moved from one table to another, but we - six Russian-speaking passengers - booked a table in the coals and always ate together:
36. 
Salads were on the buffet, and for the main one you could choose a dish from three options:
37. 
38. 
39. 
We were fed haute cuisine. All cooks were brought from Argentina. Crockery from Europe:
40. 
What can we say, we only had three confectioners. These 3 Germans spent all day doing nothing but creating delicious desserts:
41. 
Most ships have narrow decks, a V-shaped hull, an almost vertical bow, and are propelled by the rotation of a propeller that is connected directly to the ship's engine.
It's not like that with icebreakers. These ships are specially adapted for sailing on seas clogged with ice floes or heavy pack ice. Therefore, they are very heavy and lined with steel on the outside, which allows them to break ice 35 feet thick without any dents or holes. Their wide hulls and rounded bottoms also help to avoid such troubles.
Faced with pack ice, a powerful icebreaker lifts its curved nose and leans on the ice with all its weight. This is usually enough to make a pass. To perform such a maneuver, the propeller must push the ship forward with all its might and at the same time not be damaged. Therefore, the propeller of icebreakers is securely hidden under the ship's hull and is driven not by the ship, but by an electric motor. This allows the propeller to spin at an exceptionally low speed.
Japanese icebreaker "Shirazi" 440 feet long
The 440-foot-long Japanese icebreaker Shirazi is powered by three diesel engines, which are paired with electric motors that turn the propeller. The total output power of the icebreaker's engines is 90,000 horsepower.
Techniques for creating passages in ice seas
The help of icebreakers is required to open and navigate the Arctic seas: to oil developments, isolated scientific and military bases, to strategically important northern ports. Thin ice easily surrenders to these powerful ships, and they take it with a head-on ram. When it is necessary to break a floating ice floe or expand an open passage in the ice, the icebreaker, with the help of water overflowing in heeling tanks from one side to the other, leans to the side - as shown in the right figure. With such swaying, the ship's hull cuts and crushes the ice fields. Some icebreakers have additional lateral propellers mounted in the keel to facilitate rocking.
Performing icebreaking work using a roll
Having met pack ice, the icebreaker climbs it with its nose. In this case, the fuel from the bow ballast tank is poured into the stern tank (bottom left figure). When the entire bow of the ship is securely perched on the ice, the pumps begin pumping fuel back into the bow ballast tank. This added weight is usually enough to cause the ice to give way and move aside (right figure).
Performing icebreaking work with a ballast tank
Very wide ship
When the commander is on the suspension bridge, he can look down on his ship, which was created in order to awaken the polar seas to life. Typical icebreaker wider than a normal ship of the same length. This adds to its stability and carrying capacity.
Cup profile the bottom makes it easy to climb onto such ice fields that would simply wipe out an ordinary ship.
Steep bevel the bow is made so that the icebreaker, sliding, easily climbs onto the pack ice. And with the usual shape of the nose, the ship can only poke on such ice.
Marine icebreaker engine turns the generator. The generator powers the engine, which turns the propeller. This allows the best possible control of the ship's speed.
The largest and most powerful icebreaker in the world June 16th, 2016
Now let's start with the story...
The nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika went down in history as the first surface ship to reach the North Pole. The nuclear-powered ship "Arktika" (from 1982 to 1986 was called "Leonid Brezhnev") is the lead ship of the project 10520 series. The laying of the vessel took place on July 3, 1971 at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad. More than 400 associations and enterprises, research and design organizations, including the Experimental Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering named after V.I. I. I. Afrikantova and the Research Institute of Atomic Energy. Kurchatov.
The icebreaker was launched in December 1972, and in April 1975 the ship was put into operation.
The nuclear-powered ship "Arktika" was intended for escorting ships in the Arctic Ocean with the performance various kinds icebreaking work. The length of the ship was 148 meters, width - 30 meters, side height - about 17 meters. The power of the nuclear steam generating plant exceeded 55 megawatts. Due to its technical performance, the nuclear-powered ship could break through ice 5 meters thick, and in clear water reach speeds of up to 18 knots.
The first trip of the icebreaker Arktika to the North Pole took place in 1977. It was a large-scale experimental project, in which scientists had to not only reach the geographic point of the North Pole, but also conduct a series of studies and observations, as well as test the capabilities of the Arktika and the stability of the vessel in a constant collision with ice. More than 200 people took part in the expedition.
On August 9, 1977, the nuclear-powered ship left the port of Murmansk, heading for the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. In the Laptev Sea, the icebreaker turned north.
And on August 17, 1977, at 4 am Moscow time, the nuclear-powered icebreaker, having overcome the thick ice cover of the Central Polar Basin, for the first time in the world reached the geographic point of the North Pole in active navigation. For 7 days and 8 hours, the nuclear-powered ship covered 2528 miles. The age-old dream of sailors and polar explorers of many generations has come true. The crew and members of the expedition celebrated this event with a solemn ceremony of hoisting the State Flag of the USSR on a ten-meter steel mast mounted on the ice. During the 15 hours that the nuclear-powered ship spent on top of the Earth, scientists completed a set of studies and observations. Before leaving the Pole, the sailors lowered into the waters of the Arctic Ocean a commemorative metal plate with the State Emblem of the USSR and the inscription “USSR. 60 years of October, a / l "Arktika", latitude 90 ° -N, 1977.
This icebreaker has high sides, four decks and two platforms, a forecastle and a five-tier superstructure, and three four-blade fixed-pitch propellers are used as propulsors. The nuclear steam generating plant is located in a special compartment in the middle part of the icebreaker. The hull of the icebreaker is made of high-strength alloyed steel. In places subject to the greatest impact of ice loads, the hull is reinforced with an ice belt. The icebreaker has trim and roll systems. Towing operations are provided by a stern electric towing winch. A helicopter is based on the icebreaker for conducting ice reconnaissance. Control and management technical means power plants are carried out automatically, without constant watch in engine rooms, propeller motor rooms, power plants and switchboards.
Control over the operation and management of the power plant is carried out from the central control post, additional control propulsion motors brought to the wheelhouse and aft post. The wheelhouse is the ship's control center. On a nuclear-powered ship, it is located on the top floor of the superstructure, from where a greater view opens. The wheelhouse is stretched across the vessel - from side to side by 25 meters, its width is about 5 meters. Large rectangular portholes are located almost entirely on the front and side walls. Inside the cabin, only the most necessary. Near the sides and in the middle there are three identical consoles, on which there are control knobs for the movement of the vessel, indicators for the operation of the three propellers of the icebreaker and the position of the rudder, heading indicators and other sensors, as well as buttons for filling and draining ballast tanks and a huge typhon button for sound signal. Near the control panel of the left side there is a navigation table, near the central one - a steering wheel, at the starboard side panel - a hydrological table; near the navigational and hydrological tables, pedestals of all-round radars were installed.
In early June 1975, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Admiral Makarov navigated the Northern Sea Route to the east. In October 1976, the icebreaker "Ermak" with the dry cargo ship "Kapitan Myshevsky", as well as the icebreaker "Leningrad" with the transport "Chelyuskin" pulled out of the ice captivity. The captain of the Arktika called those days the "finest hour" of the new nuclear-powered ship.
Arktika was decommissioned in 2008.
On July 31, 2012, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, the first ship to reach the North Pole, was excluded from the Register of Ships.
According to the information voiced by representatives of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Rosatomflot" to the press, the total cost of dismantling the a/l "Arktika" is estimated at 1.3-2 billion rubles, with the allocation of funds under the federal target program. Recently, there was a wide campaign to convince the management of refusing to be scrapped and the possibility of modernizing this icebreaker.
And now we come closer to the topic of our post.
In November 2013, at the same Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, the ceremony of laying the lead nuclear icebreaker of project 22220 took place. In honor of its predecessor, the nuclear-powered icebreaker was named Arktika. The universal two-draught nuclear icebreaker LK-60Ya will become the largest and most powerful in the world.
According to the project, the length of the vessel will be more than 173 meters, width - 34 meters, draft at the design waterline - 10.5 meters, displacement - 33.54 thousand tons. It will become the largest and most powerful (60 MW) nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world. The nuclear-powered ship will be equipped with a two-reactor power plant with the main source of steam from the RITM-200 reactor plant with a capacity of 175 MW.
On June 16, the lead nuclear icebreaker Arktika of project 22220 was launched at the Baltic Shipyard," the company said in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti.
Thus, the designers passed one of the most important stages in the construction of the ship. The Arktika will become the lead ship of Project 22220 and will give rise to a group of nuclear-powered icebreakers needed to explore the Arctic and strengthen Russia's presence in the region.
First, the rector of the Nikolo-Bogoyavlensky Naval Cathedral conducted the baptism of the atomic icebreaker. Then the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, following the traditions of shipbuilders, broke a bottle of champagne on the hull of the nuclear-powered ship.
“It is difficult to overestimate what has been done by our scientists, designers, shipbuilders. There is a feeling of pride in our country, the people who created such a ship,” said Matvienko. She recalled that Russia is the only country that has its own nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, which will allow active implementation of projects in the Arctic.
"We are entering a qualitatively new level of development of this richest region," she stressed.
"Seven feet under the keel to you, the great "Arktika"!" - added the speaker of the Federation Council.
In turn, Vladimir Bulavin, presidential envoy for the Northwestern Federal District, noted that Russia is building new ships, despite the difficult economic situation.
"If you like, this is our answer to the challenges and threats of our time," Bulavin said.
Director General of the state corporation "Rosatom" Sergei Kiriyenko, in turn, called the launch of the new icebreaker a great victory for both the designers and the staff of the Baltic Shipyard. According to Kiriyenko, Arktika opens up "fundamentally new opportunities both in the field of ensuring the defense capability of our country and in solving economic problems."
Project 22220 vessels will be able to conduct convoys of ships in arctic conditions, breaking through ice up to three meters thick. The new ships will provide escort for ships carrying hydrocarbons from the fields of the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas, the Kara Sea shelf to the markets of the Asia-Pacific region. Dual draft design allows the vessel to be used both in Arctic waters, and in the mouths of polar rivers.
Under a contract with FSUE "Atomflot", the Baltic Shipyard will build three nuclear-powered icebreakers of project 22220. On May 26 last year, the first serial icebreaker of this project, Siberia, was laid down. This autumn, it is planned to begin construction of the second Ural icebreaker.
The contract for the construction of the lead nuclear icebreaker of project 22220 between FSUE Atomflot and BZS was signed in August 2012. Its cost is 37 billion rubles. The contract for the construction of two serial nuclear icebreakers of project 22220 was signed between BZS and the state corporation Rosatom in May 2014, the contract value was 84.4 billion rubles.
sources
I understand that this is all a large-scale repetition of a huge number of photographs of people who visited the ship on excursions, especially since they drive to the same places. But it was interesting for me to figure it out myself.
This is our nuclear-powered guide:
It was about creating a ship that can sail for a very long time without calling at ports for fuel.
Scientists have calculated that a nuclear-powered icebreaker will consume 45 grams of nuclear fuel per day - as much as will fit in a matchbox. That is why the nuclear-powered ship, having a practically unlimited navigation area, will be able to visit both the Arctic and off the coast of Antarctica in one voyage. For a ship with a nuclear power plant, the distance is not an obstacle.
Initially, we were gathered in this hall for a brief introduction to the tour and divided into two groups.
The Admiralty had considerable experience in the repair and construction of icebreakers. Back in 1928, they overhauled the "grandfather of the icebreaker fleet" - the famous "Ermak".
The construction of icebreakers and icebreaking transport vessels at the plant was associated with a new stage in the development of Soviet shipbuilding - the use of electric welding instead of riveting. The plant staff was one of the initiators of this innovation. New method successfully tested on the construction of icebreakers of the Sedov type. Icebreakers "Okhotsk", "Murman", "Ocean", in the construction of which electric welding was widely used, showed excellent performance; their hull proved to be more durable than other vessels.
Before the Great Patriotic War, the plant built a large icebreaking and transport vessel "Semyon Dezhnev", which immediately after sea trials headed for the Arctic to withdraw caravans that had wintered there. Following the "Semyon Dezhnev", the icebreaking transport vessel "Levanevsky" was launched. After the war, the plant built another icebreaker and several self-propelled icebreaker-type ferries.
A large scientific team headed by the outstanding Soviet physicist Academician A.P. Aleksandrov worked on the project. Such prominent specialists as I. I. Afrikantov, A. I. Brandaus, G. A. Gladkov, B. Ya. Gnesin, V. I. Neganov, N. S. Khlopkin, A. N. Stefanovich and Other.
We rise to the floor above
The dimensions of the nuclear-powered ship were chosen taking into account the requirements for the operation of icebreakers in the North and ensuring its best seaworthiness: the icebreaker is 134 m long, 27.6 m wide, and has a shaft power of 44,000 hp. s., displacement 16,000 tons, speed 18 knots in clear water and 2 knots in ice more than 2 m thick.
Long corridors
The designed power of the turboelectric plant is unparalleled. The nuclear-powered icebreaker is twice as powerful as the American icebreaker "Gletcher", which was considered the largest in the world.
When designing the ship's hull, special attention was paid to the shape of the bow, on which the icebreaking qualities of the vessel largely depend. The contours chosen for the nuclear-powered ship, in comparison with existing icebreakers, allow increasing the pressure on the ice. The aft end is designed in such a way that it provides flotation in ice during reverse gear and reliable protection of propellers and rudder from ice impacts.
Dining room:
And the caboose? This is a fully electrified plant with its own bakery, hot food is served by an electric elevator from the kitchen to the dining rooms.
In practice, it was observed that icebreakers sometimes got stuck in the ice not only with their bow or stern, but also with their sides. To avoid this, it was decided to arrange special systems of ballast tanks on the nuclear-powered ship. If water is pumped from the tank of one side to the tank of the other side, then the ship, swaying from side to side, will break and push the ice apart with its sides. The same system of tanks is installed in the bow and stern. And if the icebreaker does not break the ice on the move and its nose gets stuck? Then you can pump water from the stern trim tank to the bow. The pressure on the ice will increase, it will break, and the icebreaker will come out of the ice captivity.
In order to ensure the unsinkability of such a large vessel, if the skin is damaged, it was decided to subdivide the hull into compartments by eleven main transverse watertight bulkheads. When calculating the nuclear icebreaker, the designers ensured the unsinkability of the vessel when the two largest compartments were flooded.
The team of builders of the polar giant was headed by a talented engineer V. I. Chervyakov.
In July 1956, the first section of the nuclear icebreaker's hull was laid down.
To lay out the theoretical drawing of the building on the plaza, a huge area was required - about 2500 square meters. Instead, the breakdown was made on a special shield using a special tool. This allowed to reduce the area for marking. Then template drawings were made, which were photographed on photographic plates. The projection apparatus, in which the negative was placed, reproduced the light contour of the part on the metal. The photo-optical method of marking made it possible to reduce the labor intensity of plaza and marking work by 40%.
Getting into the engine room
The nuclear-powered icebreaker, as the most powerful vessel in the entire icebreaking fleet, is designed to deal with ice in the most difficult conditions; therefore, its body must be especially strong. It was decided to ensure the high strength of the hull using steel of a new brand. This steel has high impact strength. It welds well and has great resistance to crack propagation at low temperatures.
The design of the hull of the nuclear-powered ship, the system of its set also differed from other icebreakers. The bottom, sides, inner decks, platforms and the upper deck at the extremities were recruited according to the transverse framing system, and the upper deck in the middle part of the icebreaker - along the longitudinal system.
The building, as high as a good five-story house, consisted of sections weighing up to 75 tons. There were about two hundred such large sections.
The assembly and welding of such sections was carried out by the pre-assembly section of the hull shop.
It is interesting to note that the nuclear-powered ship has two power plants capable of providing energy to a city with a population of 300,000. The ship does not need any machinists or stokers: all the work of power plants is automated.
It should be said about the latest propeller motors. These are unique machines made in the USSR for the first time, especially for the nuclear-powered ship. The numbers speak for themselves: the weight of an average engine is 185 tons, the power is almost 20,000 hp. With. The engine had to be delivered to the icebreaker disassembled, in parts. Loading the engine onto the ship presented great difficulties.
They also love cleanliness.
From the pre-assembly section, the finished sections were delivered directly to the slipway. Assemblers and checkers installed them without delay.
During the manufacture of units for the first experimental standard sections, it turned out that the steel sheets from which they should be made weigh 7 tons, and those available on harvesting area cranes had a lifting capacity of only up to 6 tons.
The presses were also underpowered.
One more instructive example of the close community of workers, engineers and scientists should be mentioned.
According to the approved technology, stainless steel structures were welded manually. More than 200 experiments have been carried out; finally, the welding modes were worked out. Five automatic welders replaced 20 manual welders who were transferred to work in other areas.
There was, for example, such a case. Due to the very large dimensions, it was impossible to deliver by railway to the plant fore and sternpost - the main structures of the bow and stern of the vessel. Massive, heavy, weighing 30 and 80 g, they did not fit on any railway platforms. Engineers and workers decided to make the stems directly at the factory by welding their individual parts.
To imagine the complexity of assembling and welding the mounting joints of these stems, suffice it to say that the minimum thickness of the welded parts reached 150 mm. Welding of the stem continued for 15 days in 3 shifts.
While the building was being erected on the slipway, parts, pipelines, and devices were manufactured and assembled in various workshops of the plant. Many of them came from other companies. The main turbogenerators were built at the Kharkov Electromechanical Plant, propeller motors - at Leningrad plant"Electrosila" named after S. M. Kirov. Such electric motors were created in the USSR for the first time.
Steam turbines were assembled in the workshops of the Kirov Plant.
The use of new materials required a change in many of the established technological processes. Pipelines were mounted on the nuclear-powered ship, which were previously connected by soldering.
In collaboration with the specialists of the welding bureau of the plant, the workers of the assembly shop developed and introduced electric arc welding of pipes.
The nuclear-powered ship required several thousand pipes of various lengths and diameters. Experts have calculated that if the pipes are pulled out in one line, their length will be 75 kilometers.
Finally, the time arrived for the completion of the slipway work.
Before the descent, one difficulty arose, then another.
So, it was not easy to install a heavy rudder blade. Putting it in place in the usual way did not allow the complex design of the aft end of the nuclear-powered ship. In addition, by the time the huge part was installed, the upper deck had already been closed. Under these conditions, it was impossible to take risks. We decided to hold a "general rehearsal" - first we put not a real baller, but its "double" - a wooden model of the same dimensions. The "rehearsal" was a success, the calculations were confirmed. Soon, the multi-ton part was quickly brought into place.
The descent of the icebreaker into the water was just around the corner. The large launching weight of the vessel (11 thousand tons) made it difficult to design the launching device, although specialists were engaged in this device almost from the moment the first sections were laid on the slipway.
According to calculations design organization, in order to launch the icebreaker "Lenin" into the water, it was necessary to lengthen the underwater part of the launch tracks and deepen the bottom behind the slipway pit.
A group of employees of the design bureau of the plant and the hull shop developed a more advanced trigger device compared to the original project.
For the first time in the practice of domestic shipbuilding, a spherical wooden rotary device and a number of other new design solutions were used.
To reduce the launch weight, ensure greater stability when launching and braking a vessel that has descended from the slipway into the water, special pontoons were brought under the stern and bow.
The icebreaker's hull was freed from scaffolding. Surrounded by portal cranes, sparkling with fresh paint, he was ready to set off on his first short journey - to the water surface of the Neva.
Go ahead
We're going down
. . . PJ. To an uninitiated person, these three letters do not say anything. PEV - post of energy and survivability - the brain of icebreaker control. From here, with the help of automatic devices, operating engineers - people of a new profession in the fleet - can remotely control the operation of the steam generator unit. From here, the necessary mode of operation of the "heart" of the nuclear-powered ship - the reactors - is maintained.
Experienced sailors who have been sailing on ships for many years various types, are surprised: PJ specialists wear snow-white bathrobes over the usual marine uniform.
The post of energy and survivability, as well as the wheelhouse and crew cabins are located in the central superstructure.
And now on to the story:
December 5, 1957 In the morning it was continuously drizzling, with occasional sleet falling. A sharp, gusty wind blew from the bay. But people did not seem to notice the gloomy Leningrad weather. Long before the icebreaker was launched, the platforms around the slipway were filled with people. Many boarded a tanker under construction next door.
Exactly at noon, the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" anchored in the very place where on the memorable night of October 25, 1917, the "Aurora" - the legendary ship of the October Revolution - stood.
The construction of the nuclear-powered ship entered new period-began its completion afloat.
The nuclear power plant is the most important section of the icebreaker. The most prominent scientists worked on the design of the reactor. Each of the three reactors is almost 3.5 times more powerful than the reactor of the first in the world nuclear power plant Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
OK-150 "Lenin" (until 1966)
Rated power of the reactor, VMT 3х90
Rated steam capacity, t/h 3х120
Power on propellers, l/s 44,000
The layout of all installations - block. Each unit includes a pressurized water reactor (i.e. water is both a coolant and a neutron moderator), four circulation pumps and four steam generators, volume compensators, an ion exchange filter with a cooler, and other equipment.
The reactor, pumps and steam generators have separate casings and are connected to each other by short pipes of the "pipe in pipe" type. All equipment is located vertically in the caissons of the iron-water protection tank and is closed with small-sized protection blocks, which ensures easy accessibility during repair work.
A nuclear reactor is a technical installation in which a controlled chain reaction of nuclear fission of heavy elements is carried out with the release nuclear energy. The reactor consists of an active zone and a reflector. Water-to-water reactor - water in it is both a fast neutron moderator and a cooling and heat exchange medium. The core contains nuclear fuel in a protective coating (fuel elements - fuel rods) and a moderator. The fuel rods, which look like thin rods, are assembled into bundles and enclosed in covers. Such structures are called fuel assemblies of fuel assemblies.
The fuel rods, which look like thin rods, are assembled into bundles and enclosed in covers. Such structures are called fuel assemblies (FA). The reactor core is a set of active parts of fresh fuel assemblies (SFA), which in turn consist of fuel elements (TVEL). 241 STVs are placed in the reactor. The resource of the modern core (2.1-2.3 million MWh) provides the energy needs of the ship with nuclear power plants for 5-6 years. After the energy resource of the core is exhausted, the reactor is recharged.
The reactor vessel with an elliptical bottom is made of low-alloy heat-resistant steel with anti-corrosion hardfacing on the inner surfaces.
The principle of operation of APPU
The thermal scheme of the PPU of a nuclear vessel consists of 4 circuits.
The coolant of the first circuit (highly purified water) is pumped through the reactor core. Water is heated to 317 degrees, but does not turn into steam, because it is under pressure. From the reactor, the coolant of the 1st circuit enters the steam generator, washing the pipes inside which the water of the 2nd circuit flows, turning into superheated steam. Further, the coolant of the first circuit is again fed into the reactor by the circulation pump.
From the steam generator, superheated steam (coolant of the second circuit) enters the main turbines. Steam parameters before the turbine: pressure - 30 kgf/cm2 (2.9 MPa), temperature - 300 °C. Then the steam condenses, the water passes through the ion-exchange purification system and enters the steam generator again.
Circuit III is intended for cooling the APPU equipment, high-purity water (distillate) is used as a heat carrier. The coolant of the III circuit has a slight radioactivity.
The IV circuit serves to cool the water in the III circuit system, sea water is used as a heat carrier. Also, the IV circuit is used to cool the steam of the II circuit during distributing and cooling down the installation.
APPU is made and placed on the ship in such a way as to ensure protection of the crew and the public from exposure, and environment- from contamination with radioactive substances within the permissible safe limits both during normal operation and in case of accidents of the installation and the ship at the expense of. To this end, on possible ways release of radioactive substances, four protective barriers have been created between nuclear fuel and the environment:
the first - shells of the fuel elements of the reactor core;
the second - strong walls of the equipment and pipelines of the primary circuit;
the third is the containment of the reactor plant;
the fourth is a protective fence, the boundaries of which are the longitudinal and transverse bulkheads, the second bottom and the upper deck flooring in the area of the reactor compartment.
Everyone wanted to feel like a little hero :-)))
In 1966, two OK-900s were installed instead of three OK-150s.
OK-900 “Lenin”
Rated power of the reactor, VMT 2x159
Rated steam capacity, t/h 2x220
Power on propellers, l/s 44000
Room in front of the reactor compartment
Windows in the reactor compartment
In February 1965, an accident occurred during scheduled repairs at reactor No. 2 of the Lenin nuclear icebreaker. As a result of operator error, the core was left without water for some time, which caused partial damage to approximately 60% of the fuel assemblies.
With channel-by-channel reloading, only 94 of them were unloaded from the core, the remaining 125 turned out to be unrecoverable. This part was unloaded along with the screen assembly and placed in a special container, which was filled with a hardening mixture based on futurol and then stored onshore for about 2 years.
In August 1967, the reactor compartment with the OK-150 nuclear power plant and its own sealed bulkheads was flooded directly from the Lenin icebreaker through the bottom in the shallow Tsivolki Bay in the northern part of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago at a depth of 40-50 m.
Before the flooding, nuclear fuel was unloaded from the reactors, and their first circuits were washed, drained and sealed. According to the Iceberg Central Design Bureau, the reactors were filled with a hardening mixture based on futurol before being flooded.
A container with 125 spent fuel assemblies filled with Futurol was moved from the shore, placed inside a special pontoon and flooded. By the time of the accident, the ship's nuclear power plant had operated for about 25,000 hours.
After that, ok-150 and were replaced by ok-900
Once again about the principles of work:
How does an icebreaker's nuclear power plant work?
In the reactor, uranium rods are placed in a special order. The system of uranium rods is penetrated by a swarm of neutrons, a kind of "fuse", causing the decay of uranium atoms with the release of a huge amount of thermal energy. The rapid motion of neutrons is tamed by the moderator. Myriads of controlled atomic explosions, caused by a stream of neutrons, occur in the thickness of uranium rods. As a result, a so-called chain reaction is formed.
bw photos are not mine
Peculiarity nuclear reactors icebreaker is that not graphite is used as a neutron moderator, as at the first Soviet nuclear power plant, but distilled water. The uranium rods placed in the reactor are surrounded by the purest water (twice distilled). If you fill a bottle with it to the neck, then it will be absolutely impossible to notice whether water is poured into the bottle or not: the water is so transparent!
In the reactor, water is heated above the melting point of lead - more than 300 degrees. Water at this temperature does not boil because it is under a pressure of 100 atmospheres.
The water in the reactor is radioactive. With the help of pumps, it is driven through a special apparatus-steam generator, where it turns non-radioactive water into steam with its heat. The steam enters a turbine that drives a DC generator. The generator supplies current to the propulsion motors. The exhaust steam is sent to the condenser, where it turns back into water, which is again pumped into the steam generator by a pump. Thus, in a system of complex mechanisms, a kind of water cycle occurs.
B&W photos taken by me from the Internet
The reactors are installed in special metal drums welded into a stainless steel tank. From above, the reactors are closed with lids, under which there are various devices for automatically lifting and moving uranium rods. The entire operation of the reactor is controlled by instruments, and if necessary, "mechanical arms"-manipulators come into action, which can be controlled from a distance, being outside the compartment.
The reactor can be viewed on TV at any time.
Everything that poses a danger with its radioactivity is carefully isolated and located in a special compartment.
The drainage system diverts dangerous liquids to a special tank. There is also a system for trapping air with traces of radioactivity. The air flow from the central compartment is thrown through the main mast to a height of 20 m.
In all corners of the ship, you can see special dosimeters, ready at any time to notify of increased radioactivity. In addition, each crew member is equipped with an individual pocket-type dosimeter. The safe operation of the icebreaker is fully ensured.
The designers of the nuclear-powered ship provided for all sorts of accidents. If one reactor fails, another one will replace it. The same work on the ship can be performed by several groups of identical mechanisms.
This is the basic principle of operation of the entire system of a nuclear power plant.
In the compartment where the reactors are placed, there is a huge number of pipes of complex configurations and large sizes. The pipes had to be connected not as usual, with the help of flanges, but butt-welded with an accuracy of one millimeter.
Simultaneously with the installation of nuclear reactors, the main mechanisms of the engine room were installed at a rapid pace. Steam turbines were mounted here, rotating generators,
on an icebreaker; there are more than five hundred electric motors of different power on the nuclear-powered ship alone!
Corridor in front of the medical center
While the installation of power systems was underway, engineers worked on how to better and faster mount and put into operation the ship's machinery control system.
All management of the complex economy of the icebreaker is carried out automatically, directly from the wheelhouse. From here, the captain can change the operating mode of the propeller engines.
Actually first-aid post: Medical offices - therapeutic, dental X-ray, physiotherapy, operating room? procedures: Yuya as well as a laboratory and a pharmacy are equipped with the latest medical and preventive equipment.
Work related to the assembly and installation of the superstructure of the ship, It was not an easy task: to assemble a huge superstructure weighing about 750 tons. A boat with a water jet, main and foremasts were also built for the icebreaker in the workshop.
The four blocks of the superstructure assembled in the shop were delivered to the icebreaker and installed here by a floating crane.
The icebreaker had to perform a huge amount of insulation work. The area of isolation was about 30,000 m2. New materials were used to isolate the premises. Monthly presented for acceptance of 100-120 rooms.
Mooring trials are the third (after the slipway period and completion afloat) stage of the construction of each vessel.
Prior to the launch of the steam generator plant of the icebreaker, steam had to be supplied from the shore. The device of the steam pipeline was complicated by the lack of special flexible hoses of large cross section. It was not possible to use a steam pipeline from ordinary metal pipes, tightly fixed. Then, at the suggestion of a group of innovators, a special hinged device was used, which ensured a reliable supply of steam through the steam line to the nuclear-powered ship.
The electric fire pumps were launched and tested first, and then the entire fire system. Then, tests of the auxiliary boiler plant began.
The engine started up. The instrument needles flickered. One minute, five, ten. . . The engine works great! And after a while, the installers began to adjust the devices that control the temperature of water and oil.
When testing auxiliary turbogenerators and diesel generators, special devices were needed to allow loading two parallel turbogenerators.
How was the test of turbogenerators?
The main difficulty was that during the work the voltage regulators had to be replaced with new, more advanced ones, which provide automatic voltage maintenance even under conditions of high overload.
Mooring tests continued. In January 1959, turbogenerators with all the mechanisms and automatic machines serving them were adjusted and tested. Simultaneously with the testing of auxiliary turbogenerators, electric pumps, ventilation systems and other equipment were tested.
While the mechanisms were being tested, other work was carried out at full speed.
Successfully fulfilling their obligations, the Admiralty in April completed the testing of all the main turbogenerators and propulsion motors. The test results were excellent. All calculated data made by scientists, designers, designers were confirmed. The first stage of testing the nuclear-powered ship was completed. And finished successfully!
April 1959
The installers of the hold department entered the case.
The firstborn of the Soviet nuclear fleet the icebreaker "Lenin" is a vessel perfectly equipped with all means of modern radio communication, location installations, and the latest navigation equipment. The icebreaker is equipped with two radars - short-range and long-range. The first is designed to solve operational navigation problems, the second - to monitor the environment and the helicopter. In addition, it must duplicate the short-range locator in conditions of snowfall or rain.
The equipment located in the bow and stern radio rooms will ensure reliable communication with the shore, with other ships and aircraft. Internal communication is carried out by an automatic telephone exchange with 100 numbers, separate telephones in various rooms, as well as a powerful general ship radio broadcasting network.
Work on the installation and adjustment of communication facilities was carried out by special teams of installers.
Responsible work was carried out by electricians to put into operation electrical and radio equipment and various devices in the wheelhouse.
The nuclear-powered ship will be able to sail for a long time without calling at ports. So it is very important where and how the crew will live. That's why when creating an icebreaker project Special attention was given to the living conditions of the team.
More living rooms
. .. Long bright corridors. Along them are sailor cabins, mostly single, less often for two people. During the day, one of the beds is removed into a niche, the other turns into a sofa. In the cabin, opposite the sofa, there is a desk and a swivel chair. Above the table is a clock and a shelf for books. Nearby are wardrobes for clothes and personal belongings.
In a small entrance vestibule there is another closet - especially for outerwear. A mirror is fixed above a small faience washbasin. Hot and cold water in the taps - around the clock. In short, a cozy modern small-sized apartment.
All rooms have fluorescent lighting. The electrical wiring is hidden under the lining, it is not visible. Milky glass screens cover fluorescent lamps from harsh direct rays. Each bed has a small lamp that gives a soft pink light. After labor day, having come to his cozy cabin, the sailor will be able to have a great rest, read, listen to the radio, music ...
There are also household workshops on the icebreaker - a shoemaker's and a tailor's workshop; there is a hairdressing salon, a mechanical laundry, baths, showers.
We return to the central staircase
We go up to the captain's cabin
More than one and a half thousand wardrobes, armchairs, sofas, shelves took their places in the cabins and office space. True, all this was made not only by the woodworkers of the Admiralty plant, but also by the workers of the furniture factory No. 3, the plant named after A. Zhdanov, and the Intourist factory. The Admiralty also made 60 separate sets of furniture, as well as various wardrobes, beds, tables, hanging cabinets and bedside tables - beautiful solid furniture.
