Russia’s Atomflot plans to retire the nuclear-powered LASH ship Sevmorput later this year and replace the 36-year-old vessel with a diesel-powered container carrier.
The ice-classed Sevmorput, completed by the Zaliv Shipyard in 1988 to a lighter aboard ship (LASH) design, is the world’s only nuclear-powered commercial vessel and is powered by a KLT40 reactor providing steam to a GTZA 684 OM5 turbine to give a maximum speed of 20.8 knots.
Although originally designed to carry 74 lighters, each with a cargo capacity of 300 tons, the 33,980dwt vessel has been retro-fitted with two Russian-manufactured 60-tonne cranes that can be used in tandem to lift 120-tonnes and now has a container capacity of 1,328 TEUs.
It has most recently been employed on subsidized voyages along Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR) carrying both military and commercial cargoes.
Report by Jim Shaw
