Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 29 – The Sevmorput, the world’s only nuclear-powered container ship that had most recently been supplying Russian military facilities along the Arctic coast suffered a fire and may now be scrapped on schedule in 2024 rather than having its service extended by yet another refit, The Barents Observer reports.
Rosatom and the Russian authorities threw a veil of secrecy over the fire after some sparse initial reports given that a fire on a nuclear vessel could have threatened the 270,000 people n nearby Murmansk, the watchdog publication says (thebarentsobserver.com/en/nuclear-safety/2023/12/nuclear-powered-ship-murmansk-started-burn-only-few-locals-got-know-about).
The ship, built in 1988, lay idle for may years after the USSR collapsed; but in 2013, officials decided to renovate it –and since 2016, it has been in service, delivering cargo to military bases on the Arctic littoral (thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2019/07/big-supplies-its-way-northern-fleets-arctic-bases).
Recently, Leonid Irlitsa, head of Russia’s Atomflot corporation, said the Sevmorput would be scrapped in 2024 and replaced with several non-nuclear vessels that have become available (portnews.ru/news/357279). But if history is any guide, there is likely to be a gap between this ship’s end of service and the arrival of its replacements.
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