Fire Breaks Out On Russian Nuclear-Powered Icebreaker

A fire broke out on Sunday evening on a Soviet-era nuclear-powered cargo icebreaker ship docked at a port in northwestern Russia. 

Reuters said the Soviet-made Sevmorput vessel was docked in the northern Russian city of Murmansk when a 30 square meters (323 square feet) fire erupted in one of the cabins.

Another report says the fire was extinguished an hour later, and there was no threat to the ship’s nuclear reactor. 

BREAKING:

Nuclear incident in northern Russia.

A fire erupted on the nuclear-powered ice-breaking container ship Sevmorput in the Port of Murmansk.

It’s the largest nuclear-powered ship in Russia. pic.twitter.com/lYCeIA4xQy

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 24, 2023

“There was no threat to crucial support systems or to the reactor plant,” Atomflot wrote in a statement, adding, “The fire was quickly liquidated” and “There were no injuries.” 

Atomflot is a unit of state nuclear corporation Rosatom that operates Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet to ensure military and commercial vessels can sail through the Arctic Ocean. 

Warming temperatures and thawing sea ice have made maritime routes through the Arctic region accessible to commercial vessels at certain times of the year. One of these routes, the Northern Sea Route, shortens shipping time from Russia to Asian economies. 

Russia is the only country that operates nuclear-powered icebreakers, while the US has a depleted icebreaker fleet. This comes as interest among world powers has soared in the Arctic region. 

Last month, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) told a House Committee on Homeland Security that the US has “two icebreakers, and one is broken.” 

“That’s what we have. We are building more, we are looking to purchase of the shelve some, but we need to make sure that we are trying to close a very very significant icebreaker gap. Even China’s icebreaker capacity is on pace to surpass ours in 2025…and they are not even an Arctic nation,” Sullivan told the committee. 

Meanwhile, days ago, the US extended its claims on the resource-rich ocean floor in the Arctic. 

Opening new Arctic shipping lanes requires a powerful icebreaker fleet, a capability currently not in reach by the US until possibly at the end of the decade.