Nuclear cargo ship ‘Sevmorput' transports freight for RNPP

A nuclear cargo ship 'Sevmorput' transported 1,400 tonnes of breakbulk cargo from St Petersburg to Nakhodka port, Vladivostok of Russia for next phase of transportation to the final destination; the under construction Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) in Pabna.

According to a message received on Wednesday, the cargo comprises structural steel and machinery, which took only 22 days for its journey through heavy ice of Northern Sea Route (NSR).

"The ice conditions in some areas were severe, but thanks to the vessel's outstanding performance and the skilled crew the voyage was successfully completed without any delay", said Leonid Irlitsa, First Deputy Director General for Navigation, Atomflot, a subsidiary of Rosatom, which maintains the world's only fleet of nuclear icebreakers.

Russia has taken an ambitious plan for the development of the North Sea Route, setting a target of transporting 80 million tonnes along the route by 2024, the message said.

It said the navigation distance via the Northern Sea Route from a Northwest-European port to the Far East is approximately 40 percent shorter compared to the route via the Suez Canal.

Sevmorput nuclear cargo ship was built by Zaliv shipyard in Russia and entered into operations on December 31, 1988, the message added.

Powered by a KLT-40 reactor, it is capable of sailing independently in continuous ice fields up to 1 meter thick, it, however, said.