IMPROVING THE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF NUCLEAR ICEBREAKERS WHEN NAVIGATING SHIPS IN THE ARCTIC

The most expensive part of nuclear icebreakers to be replaced is the reactor core, and therefore great importance was attached to increasing its energy storage and energy resource. At the first stage of the active zone development, it was possible to solve the problem of equalizing the calculated energy storage and the assigned energy resource. Another problem related to the icebreaker maneuvering in the Arctic is the unreasonably overestimated power limitation of the electric propulsion installation set by the navigator, leading to a decrease in the duration of the core campaign and its premature unloading from the reactor. The article proposes solutions that allow increasing the duration of the active zone campaign in the conditions of icebreaker maneuvering in the Arctic.

The author suggests achieving this by creating a standard base of fixed navigation regulations with known statistical power distributions on the propellers and by switching to the sliding steam pressure technology in the main steam line during maneuvering. This allows the navigator to increase quickly the power on the propellers directly from the wheelhouse without the reactor operator consent.

The article considers a numerical example using various options for power limitation of an electric propulsion installation. The calculation shows that due to the proposed option for setting the power limitation, it is possible, other things being equal, to save a third of the core energy reserve.

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