FSUE Atomflot is a Russian company and service base that maintains the world's only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. Atomflot is part of the Rosatom group, and is based in the city of Murmansk.
Taymyr-class icebreaker Taymyr
Nuclear-powered icebreaker
A nuclear-powered icebreaker is an icebreaker with an onboard nuclear power plant that produces power for the vessel's propulsion system. Although more expensive to operate, nuclear-powered icebreakers provide a number of advantages over their diesel-powered counterparts, especially along the Northern Sea Route where heavy power demand associated with icebreaking, limited refueling infrastructure along the Siberian coast, and endurance required make diesel-powered icebreaker operations challenging. As of 2023, Russia is the only country that builds and operates nuclear-powered icebreakers, having built a number of such vessels to aid shipping along the Northern Sea Route and Russian arctic outposts since the Soviet era.
Nuclear icebreaker Yamal, 2015
Nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin
Project 22220 icebreaker, Ural, under construction
The 1975-built Arktika, the first surface ship to reach the North Pole, in 2006