Power plant apl. How nuclear submarines work. The structure of a nuclear submarine

Nuclear power and nuclear submarine fleet
Date of: 18/05/2009
Subject: Nuclear fleet

V.A. Lebedev, Ph.D., Prof., Central Research Institute of the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation named after. Academician A.N. Krylova, Chairman of the Board of the North-Western Branch of the Nuclear Society

In 2008, submariners, designers, shipbuilders and ship repairers celebrated the 50th anniversary of the nuclear submarine fleet. In human life, 50 years is a long time. For the universe, this is just a moment. The nuclear submarine fleet was created through the efforts of the entire Soviet people, its scientists, specialists and workers. And yet, the main character controlling this most complex and dangerous equipment for all these 50 years has been and remains a man, a sailor, a submariner - a specialist in the operation of nuclear power plants.

Historical milestones


On September 9, 1952, I. Stalin signed the decree of the USSR Government “On the design and construction of facility 627.” 38 specialized research institutes and design bureaus were involved in the design, and 27 enterprises throughout the country were involved in the creation of the first nuclear submarine.


1954 - the formation of crews for the first nuclear submarine (NPS) began,


1955 - the first nuclear submarine Nautilus entered service in the USA,

The first nuclear power plant (NPP) was launched at IPPE (Obninsk),

Training of crews of nuclear submarines “K-3” and “K-5” has begun,


1956 - a prototype reactor with liquid metal coolant (LMC) was launched,

The training of the crew of the nuclear submarine with nuclear propulsion unit on the liquid propulsion unit “K-27” has begun.


1957 - the nuclear submarine "K-3" was launched.


1958 - the Navy flag was raised on the K-3 nuclear submarine, first steam was received from the nuclear power plant, and independent sailing was given.

Under the leadership of S.N. Kovalev, work began on the second generation nuclear submarine of Project 667A,


1960 - the American nuclear submarine George Washington with 16 Polaris ballistic missiles on board entered combat duty,


1964 - the first hull of the nuclear submarine Project 667 (“K-137”) was laid down at the Severodvinsk Machine-Building Enterprise (SMP).


1967 - the nuclear submarine "K-137" became part of the Northern Fleet.

Project managers and participants

It is impossible to list them all. I will name the main project managers who participated in the creation of nuclear submarines:


scientific supervisors - A.P. Alexandrov, A.I. Leypunsky.


Main designers:


Project 627 - V.N. Peregudov,


645 project - V.N. Peregudov, A.K. Nazarov,


658, 667, 941 projects - S.N. Kovalev,


659, 949 projects - P.P. Pustyntsev, I.L. Bazanov (949),


670 project - I.M. Ioffe, V.P. Vorobyov,


671,971 projects --G.N. Chernyshev,


Project 945 - N.I. Kvasha,


Project 885 - E.N. Kormilitsyn,


705 project - M.G.Rusanov, V.A.Romin,


661 projects - N. Isanin, N. F. Shulzhenko,


685 project - N.A. Klimov, Yu.N. Kormilitsyn.


Chief designer of the nuclear power plant - N.A. Dollezhal.


Chief designer of the PG - G.A. Hasanov.

To create a nuclear fleet, were formed special design bureaus:
SKB-143 “Malachite”, which completed 627, 645, 671, 705, 971, 661 nuclear submarine projects.

SKB-18 "Rubin": projects 658, 659, 675, 667, 941, 685, 885.


STB-112 “Lazurit”: projects 670, 945.

Nuclear submarines built at four shipyards:


Northern Machine-Building Enterprise (plant No. 402, PA "Sevmash") in Severodvinsk, where, since 1955, 125 nuclear submarines have been built. This is the most powerful shipyard in Europe, and possibly in the world.


Amur Plant (plant No. 199) in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, 56 nuclear submarines have been built since 1957.


- “Krasnoe Sormovo” (plant No. 112) in Nizhny Novgorod, since 1960, 25 nuclear submarines have been built (with completion and testing in Severodvinsk).


Leningrad Admiralty Association (plant No. 194), since 1960 39 submarines have been built.


Four generations of nuclear submarines


The conditional division of boats into generations is apparently associated with the development of automatic control systems, although other equipment and energy are also ranked by generation.


TO first generation nuclear submarine include projects 627 and 627A, according to which 13 boats were built at Sevmashpredpriyatie (1955-1963), projects 658 and 658M - 8 boats (1958-1964), projects 659 and 659T - 5 boats (1957-1962), projects 675 , 675M, 675MKV - 29 boats (1961-1966).


Co. second generation Projects include: 667A -34 nuclear submarines (1964-1972). They were equipped with new missile systems, subsequently modernized, which also led to the modernization of the carrier boats. Project 667A was followed by 667B, BD, BDR, BDRM - 43 boats (1971-1992), projects 670A and 670M - 17 nuclear submarines (1973-1980), projects 671, 671RT, 671RTM - 48 nuclear submarines (1965-1987 gg.).


The second generation boats were distinguished by their reliability and reliability. I had the opportunity to serve on a Project 671 nuclear submarine. When performing combat missions, they performed excellently.


Third generation nuclear submarine began to be created in the mid-1970s. It is represented by submarines of the following projects:


941 - 6 boats (1977-1989), a unique project included in the Guinness Book, equipped with the Typhoon missile system,


949 and 949A -12 nuclear submarines (1978-1994),


945, 945A, 945B - 6 boats with titanium hull (1982-1993),


971 - 14 nuclear submarines (1982-1995, 2008).


TO fourth generation Projects 885 and 955 (1993-2008) are included. They were created during the most difficult period for our society, when both the shipbuilding base and the fleet itself were largely destroyed. In terms of their design idea, content, and instrumentation, these boats are the next step forward in the development of marine underwater technology.


Unique fighter boats of projects 705 and 705K (7 nuclear submarines) with a titanium hull, underwater speed of 41 knots, a high degree of automation and power supply from a nuclear power plant with a liquid metal reactor were created in the early 1970s. The history of their creation, operation and withdrawal from the fleet is unique in itself and requires a separate narrative. Unresolved issues with the service infrastructure and their operation led to the short life of the nuclear boats of this project.


In addition to serial nuclear submarine projects, several experimental boats were created:


In 1958-1963. experimental nuclear submarine of project 645 with two liquid metal reactors,


In 1963-1969. boat with a titanium hull of Project 661, unique in underwater speed (44.7 knots),


In 1978-1984. deep-sea boat with a titanium hull 685 of the Komsomolets project, which dived to a depth of 1020 m (a world record for combat submarines).

Nuclear submarines cannot exist without supporting infrastructure. In the North and in the Pacific Fleet, ship repair plants operated, some of which were located in the department of the Navy, others in the shipbuilding industry. Maintenance and repair of nuclear submarines in the North were carried out at five plants: SZR-10 in Polyarny, SZP-82 (Safonovo), SZR-35 (Rosta), SZR "Nerpa" (Snezhnogorsk), GMP "Zvezdochka" (Severodvinsk). In addition, ship repair was carried out by floating maintenance facilities that were part of the Navy. They were equipped with special tankers for storing and transporting liquid radioactive waste, floating bases with recharging systems for nuclear reactors at the location of the nuclear submarine, floating tanks and storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, solid radioactive waste and liquid radioactive waste.


Nuclear power plants in ship power

In 1952, work began on the creation of the first nuclear submarine. It was necessary to solve a number of new engineering and design problems. First of all, the creation of the power unit of a nuclear ship, i.e. creation of a reactor installation, systems and mechanisms to ensure its operation.

Academician A.P. Aleksandrov was appointed scientific director of development, and academician N.A. was appointed chief energy designer. Dollezhal.

The first generation of steam generating unit (SPU) did not have a special name. The type of reactor involved in this PPU is VM-A. Types of second generation polyurethane foam: OK-300, OK-350, OK-700 on the 667 project. Types of third generation polyurethane foam: OK-650, OK-650B, OK-650M -01.


Types of polyurethane foam in reactors with liquid metallurgical fluid: VT-1, OK-550. These installations involved


reactors RM-1 with a power of 73 MW and BM-40A with a power of 155 MW.

On first generation PPU a traditional, branched layout scheme was used, in which the reactor, steam generator and central scientific research complex were mounted separately. They were connected by long pipes, which reduced the efficiency, survivability, and reliability of the PPU.


On second generation block layout is used. The reactor and steam generator were connected by a pipe-in-pipe connection. A central steam generator was installed on the steam generator. The length of pipelines with this arrangement was significantly reduced.


Further development of this idea was implemented at third generation PPU: while maintaining the block layout, the main equipment was installed in the form of a steam generating block (SGB), in which the reactor and steam generator were combined fourth generation practically repeats the previous scheme. N and the fifth generation It is planned to implement a monoblock design.

Reactor types


During the creation of nuclear submarines, several types of ship reactors were developed. Basically, nuclear submarines are equipped with modifications of nuclear plants with VVER-type reactors. The main difference between the nuclear installations of nuclear power plants and the nuclear power plants of nuclear submarines is that with smaller sizes, a relatively high output power is achieved at the nuclear power plants of nuclear submarines.

The enrichment of nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants in U 235 does not exceed 4%, while the level of enrichment of U 235 in nuclear submarine fuel can reach 90%, which makes it possible to replace nuclear submarine fuel much less frequently than is done at nuclear power plants. The thermal power of reactors of domestic nuclear submarines varies from 10 MW in small nuclear installations used on the Project 1910 nuclear submarine to 200 MW in reactors installed on the Severodvinsk class nuclear submarine Project 885.

For the nuclear submarine, a pressurized water reactor was chosen, which had no analogues in the country (work on a reactor of this type for nuclear power plants began only in 1955). When developing pressurized water reactors, it was necessary to solve the problems of optimizing the thermal circuit of nuclear reactors, determine their parameters, model control schemes for neutron processes in nuclear reactors, solve the problem of deep burnup of nuclear fuel and the accumulation of U 235 fission fragments, create a thermal engineering model of a nuclear installation, and develop an automatic control circuit NEU.

The creation of a transport nuclear installation at that time was a huge technical progress. A small-sized, high-tension and highly maneuverable nuclear power plant was created that met the weight and dimensions requirements for a submarine. Subsequently, on the basis of this nuclear installation, 4 generations of nuclear installations and their modifications were created. The first generation boats were equipped with a 70 MW VM-A reactor. For the second generation of boats, two types of reactors were developed: VM-4 (power 72 MW) on 671 projects and VM-4-1 (power 90 MW) on 667 projects. The third generation of nuclear submarines was equipped with OK-650B3 reactors (power 190 MW). A more than twofold increase in power with practically the same dimensions of the core required an increase in the enrichment of nuclear fuel in fuel rods and led to an increase in the energy intensity of the core, that is, the amount of energy and heat removed from a unit of volume.

The main disadvantages of first generation nuclear plants were:

Large spatial distribution and large volume of the primary circuit, the presence of large diameter pipelines connecting the main equipment, i.e. reactor, steam generators, pumps, heat exchangers, volume compensators, etc. This created serious problems in organizing protection in case of emergency depressurization of the primary circuit, as well as in the event of rupture of impulse tubes connecting the primary circuit with instrumentation,


Low equipment reliability and large mass-dimensional characteristics with high technological and operational parameters,


-low level of automation of nuclear installation control processes, low reliability and insufficient reliability of the readings of instrumentation, as well as control and protection systems of the nuclear reactor,

Insufficient strength of the third safety barrier (hardware baffle, steam generator baffle, pump baffle, CPS baffle).


- insufficiently reliable control system for nuclear processes occurring in the reactor. The starting equipment made it possible to control nuclear processes in the reactor during start-up only when it reached its minimum controlled power level.

Deficiencies in the physical characteristics and design of compensating grids, which, together with the imperfection of reloading equipment, led to accidents.

Currently, all first-generation submarines have been put into storage for the purpose of their further disposal.

In the 1960s boats of the second generation of projects 667, 670 and 671 were designed, laid down and began to be built - the largest series of submarines, the construction of which was completed in 1990. The first submarine of the second generation came to the Northern Fleet in the second half of 1967]

The second generation nuclear steam generating plant was created based on the operating experience of the first generation and taking into account its shortcomings. It was assumed that by ensuring the high quality of pipelines, equipment and other components of nuclear power plants, serious accidents could be avoided.

Based on the experience of operating nuclear power plants of the first generation, where the main “troubles” were caused by leaks of water from the primary circuit into the second circuit (mainly through steam generators) and leaks to the outside (into pump rooms and steam generator baffles), the layout diagram of the nuclear plant was changed for the second generation. It remained a loop, but the spatial distribution and volumes of the primary circuit were significantly reduced. A “pipe-in-pipe” scheme and diagrams of mounted primary circuit pumps on steam generators were used. The number of large diameter pipelines connecting the main equipment (1st circuit filter, volume compensators, etc.) has been reduced. Almost all primary circuit pipelines (small and large diameter) were located in uninhabited premises under biological protection. The instrumentation and automation systems of nuclear installations have changed significantly. The number of remotely controlled fittings (valves, gate valves, dampers, etc.) has increased. Second generation submarines switched to AC power. Turbogenerators (the main sources of electricity) have become autonomous.

The main disadvantage of second-generation nuclear power plants from the point of view of nuclear and radiation hazards was the unreliability of the main equipment (cores, steam generators, automation systems). Accidents and breakdowns were associated mainly with depressurization of fuel rod shells, leaks of water from the primary circuit into the second circuit through steam generators, as well as failure of automation systems or the possibility of its operation in such a mode that an unauthorized start-up of a nuclear reactor could occur. Nuclear safety problems related to the emergency cooling of nuclear reactors in the event of a complete blackout of the ship remained unresolved; control of nuclear processes in the reactor when it is in a subcritical state, preventing complete drying of the core in the event of a rupture of the primary circuit.

When designing third-generation nuclear power plants (early 1970s), a concept was developed to create safety systems, including emergency cooldown (cooling) and accident localization systems. These systems were designed for a maximum design basis accident, which was assumed to be an instantaneous rupture of a coolant pipeline in a section of maximum diameter.

For third-generation ships, a block layout scheme was used, which made it possible to increase the reliability of the main equipment of the nuclear power plant and to use the natural circulation mode through the primary circuit at a reactor power of up to 30% of the nominal one. This arrangement of the nuclear power plant made it possible to reduce its dimensions while simultaneously increasing its power and improving other operational parameters.

In addition, progressive changes were made to the 3rd generation nuclear power plants:
- a battery-free cooling system (BBR) has been introduced, which is automatically put into operation when the power supply disappears.
- the reactor control and protection system has changed. Pulse starting equipment made it possible to control the state of the reactor at any power level, including in a subcritical state.

The design of the compensating elements used the “self-propelled” principle, which, in the event of a power failure, ensured that the compensating groups were lowered onto the lower end switches. If this idea had been implemented earlier, perhaps sailor Sergei Perminov, who manually lowered the compensating grids to shut down the reactor on the K-219 nuclear submarine, which sank in the Atlantic Ocean, would not have died.

The main problems of third-generation nuclear power plants remained problems with the reliability of the main equipment: cores, cleaning and cooling units. Problems with the reliability of the main equipment are associated mainly with the high cyclicity of processes occurring in the nuclear power plant during its operation.

The fourth generation nuclear plant (on the Project 885 nuclear submarine under construction in Severodvinsk) is a monoblock with an integrated circuit layout. This allows you to localize the primary coolant in the monoblock body and eliminate large diameter pipes and pipes. This installation was created taking into account all nuclear safety requirements.

Features of steam generators

The chief designer of steam generators at the Baltic Plant was Genrikh Alievich Gasanov. The first generation PPUs used steam generators PG-13, PG-13U, PG-14T. At first, we tried to consider different design options. All these SGs were coil-type, direct-flow, and, as a rule, non-repairable. The first circuit is in the pipe, the second in the interpipe space. The actual resource was only 200-500 hours. Due to poorly developed technologies, there were serious problems with the water regime. After operating for several hundred hours, the “barrels” began to leak.


More advanced repairable steam generators appeared on the second and third generations of nuclear submarines. The second generation used a steam generator PG-VM-4T with the first circuit in the pipe, the second in the interpipe space. In the PG-4T version of the steam generator, the second circuit was in the pipe, and the first in the interpipe space. The service life of these steam generators was already 40-50 thousand hours.


The steam generators of the OK-650 steam generating unit were made in two versions: on the Project 941 nuclear submarine, coil steam generators remained. On other projects, cassette straight-tube steam generators with double heating of the working fluid began to be used, which made it possible to increase the resource to 50-60 thousand hours.

From generation to generation of boats, the power on the shaft of the main turbo-gear unit (GTZA) also increased.


On the first projects 627, 675,658 it was 2 x 17,500 hp, on project 659 30,000 hp. On second generation boats: on the 667 project - 2 of 20,000 hp, on the 670 project - 18,000 hp, on the 671 project - 31,000 hp. On the 670 project, for the first time in domestic underwater shipbuilding, a single-shaft submarine design with one VVER reactor and one GTZA was used. The same solution was subsequently applied to the 705, 945 and 971 nuclear submarine projects.


On the third generation boats of the 941 and 949 projects, the GTZA power increased to 2 x 50,000 hp, on the 945 project - 47,000 hp, on the 971 project - 43,000 hp, on the 645 project - 35,000 hp .

Active zones

Many teams worked on the design of cores for ship reactors. The following types of cores were used in the first generation of reactors: VM-A, VM-ATs, VM-1A, VM-1AM, VM-2A, VM-2Ag. In fact, there were many more types of AZ. Not all are listed here. The reactor cores of domestic nuclear submarines consist of 248-252 fuel assemblies, depending on the type of reactor. Each assembly consists of several dozen fuel cells. The AZ campaign increased from 1.5 to 5 thousand hours. UO 2 , UAl 3 was used as a fuel composition, which had proven itself and was subsequently used in the core of reactors of subsequent generations. As the power of the reactors increased, the enrichment of nuclear fuel also changed: from 6, 7.5 and 21% in the first generation to 36/45 in the second and third generations, and even up to 90% enrichment in reactors with liquid metal fuel. The third generation of nuclear power plants used core profiling with nuclear fuel and a burnable absorber.


In the initial core designs, short-rod and long-rod types were used, then four-ring and two-ring types of fuel rods. The second generation used rod and double-ring fuel rods. By the way, the zone with 2 ring fuel rods is the only zone that completely exhausted its energy resource. For the third generation, cruciform fuel rods were created, which had a number of advantages. The cross-shaped design provided maximum heating area. In addition, the twisted profile of the fuel rod allows turbulence of the coolant flow, as well as the use of the principle of self-distancing.


On the third generation of nuclear submarines, in order to obtain a power of 190 MW with almost the same volume, it was necessary to almost triple the energy intensity of the core - from 85 to 224 kW/l.


The protection control systems (CPS) on different generations of boats also had their own characteristics. To compensate for reactivity, huge KR-1 compensating grids were installed on the first generation of nuclear submarines. They were controlled remotely or manually. In the second generation, the reactivity compensation organs were divided into 2 parts - the central grid (CCR) and peripheral grids (PKR) -2(4) (depending on the type of reactor). On the third generation, there are no automatic control rods (AR). The neutron power is controlled due to the temperature effects of reactivity.

Knowledge of the physical foundations of nuclear energy and thermal physics, the structure of a ship and nuclear power plant, experience in operating equipment and fighting for the survivability of technical equipment, composure, endurance, high moral and volitional qualities, dedication to one’s work - these are the main qualities of a nuclear submariner. But under what conditions he has to perform his duties.



If you look at a cross-section of the power compartment of a nuclear submarine, where everything is filled with equipment, in this dense tangle of electrical cables, hydraulics and air ducts, it is difficult to imagine a person serving for many days, weeks and months in these energy-intensive, spatially cramped conditions. And, nevertheless, submariners regularly fulfill their sacred duty, protecting the maritime borders of our Fatherland.

Starting up a nuclear reactor

In this chapter

Normal or fast start.

One to Fear: The Captain's Mate.

Call him "engineer".

Saying goodbye to the shore.

There are two types of reactor startup: normal and fast. During a fast start, the reactor is restarted after it has been paused. It's similar to starting your car's engine after refueling. All temperature indicators are within normal limits, the mechanism is “accustomed” to operation, so to some extent, quick start-up is quite simple. It requires certain skills and experience from submariners, but it is easier to carry out than a normal launch.

Normal startup is a procedure used when starting a reactor after a long period of inactivity. It is carried out in accordance with Procedure No. 5 of the Nuclear Reactor Operating Manual and Operational Instruction No. 27. Procedure No. 5 is something of a general statement that explains why certain things are done in a particular way. It is still legally valid, at least in the submarine fleet, and violating it can result in "disqualification" at best.

Operating Instruction No. 27 is a very detailed list of valves. Although it spans more than 30 pages, the reactor operators know it so well that they can quote passages of any length. One of the senior submarine officers knew these Instructions so well that one day they staged something like an attraction: the junior officer opened the Instructions anywhere, and the senior officer quoted any paragraph from it. He could do this for hours, and although there was enough beer for a small party, he made surprisingly few mistakes.

Normal reactor startup “by the book”

So how do you start a nuclear reactor? First, open your eyes when the senior watch officer shakes you while you are sleeping. The clock says 1:45. You fell asleep on the table in the watch room half an hour ago after working on the pre-launch list all day. You get up, put on your tunic and lace up your sea boots. Then you pour 2 spoons of coffee into a cup, stir and swallow it before heading to the back of the submarine to the engine room.

Your shift will end at 7:00 when the officers are called to the Mate. The watch in the reactor compartment changes at 7:30, when you take sail, take the position of duty officer and take the submarine out of port. By the time you return to your sleeping place, the submarine will already be submerged under water. It will be after dinner.

Normal reactor startup should only be done in the pre-dawn hours. If everything goes well, then by 6 o’clock in the morning, when the chief engineer on watch arrives at the ship, it can sail.

XO does not mean “hugs and kisses”

The mate is the second in command on the submarine. It does all the heavy lifting for the captain, allowing him to focus more on his tactical plans. All the duties that you thought were performed by the captain are actually performed by the assistant captain. The captain is in his cabin, deep in thought, while the mate is “putting out the fire.” The captain arrives on board the submarine at 10:00, has lunch with the officers and goes to play golf with the admiral.

And the assistant captain wakes up early, goes through a whole stack of papers and tells off 5 officers at a time by the time the officers' meeting starts at 7:00. At the officers' meeting, all division heads (chief engineer, navigator, weapons officer and supply officer) and junior division officers who report to division heads sit at the table in the watch room and review the list of orders from the mate. If you had to choose a person for the role of assistant captain, you will try to remember the most unpleasant person you know, but you give him a lot of authority.

On one submarine, the mate was hated and feared. The officers spoke very poorly of him. On the last day of the assistant captain's stay on the submarine, in a foreign port in the middle of a very tense operation, when he went ashore, where a car was waiting for him, the officers could hardly hold back their tears.

While observing this young cadet, I asked one of the officers what was going on.

“Did you hate the mate?” - I asked.

“He was my second father,” the lieutenant snorted and pushed me out of his way. A man never forgets his first love and his first mate.

The mate is a seaman of all trades. As the senior officer of the reactor compartment, he must have once been an engineer before becoming a captain's mate. He forces the engineer to “run and jump” to ensure that all the papers regarding the reactor are in order. He has his own subordinates, and each junior officer reports to the captain's assistant about everything he wants to know. Each note on the way to the captain is corrected by the captain's assistant.

Admiral is the commander of a submarine squadron and the captain's superior. This is only true in port, because at sea the captain reports only to a senior admiral, such as the Submarine Commander, Atlantic Fleet, or the commander of a combat unit.

The mate manages the work on the submarine and is the busiest person on board, often working late into the night or getting up very early in the morning. If you need to accomplish the impossible, then the assistant captain is just the one you need. If you are selected for the position of assistant captain, then it is better for you to take a vacation first. Over the next three years, you are unlikely to see anything except work and sleep, and the latter is not at all guaranteed to you. And make sure your wife is the independent type because she won't be seeing you for long periods of time.

Excursion before the watch

Back to the reactor: you find the senior watch officer and ask him to announce 1MS over the intercom and send someone to run through the watch's sleeping sections and gather everyone in the back of the sub to start the reactor.

As soon as you walked into the engineering rooms, you began your pre-watch tour. You practically live in the rear part of the submarine, so you can immediately see any emerging event. You make sure that the watch is closely monitoring the operation of the systems. They took their positions, all sleepy-eyed, wrinkled and unshaven. For a moment you are overcome with a feeling of admiration for the nuclear sailors of this submarine. What kind of people are these, they got up in the middle of the night to start the reactor, and not a single complaint was heard. They are all confident professionals.

As you pass the cracks and corners of the power plant on your way to the lower level of the engine room, you are reminded of a Hemingway line that one of the junior officers liked to mutilate: “Went down to see how things were. Things were bad." You smile to yourself as you climb the stairs to the upper level of the engine room, and find yourself in the company of the engine room watch controller and the upper level engine room watchmen.

The watch controller of the engine room is a chief who is a highly professional nuclear seaman. He can manage his watch without you, but he probably won't want to do it. You are standing between the onboard turbine generators and discussing the startup of the reactor and its condition. He replies that everything is nominal and ready to launch. You say that you will meet him in 5 minutes in the reactor control room.

You approach the door to the reactor control room. This is a sacred place, but it is not like the abode of the high priests in the palace. People don't raise their voices here. No one enters here without the permission of the nuclear officer of this room, unless he is the chief engineer, mate, captain or chief watch officer.

His name is “engineer.”

Eng. - a universal abbreviated title for the chief engineer, or engineer, in the Navy. During the entire three years of the voyage, officers in the post of engineer are called nothing more than “engineers.”

Sometimes people even seem to forget the engineer's real name. If you call him at home and his wife answers, you will still ask for an “inja” to answer the phone. She will understand. It will surprise no one that even his children call him that. On board some submarines, if the engineer is too annoying, he may be called a "dinge" (fucking engineer).

Engineer is a high rank among nuclear sailors. He is omnipotent, he is a god on board the submarine. That's why when he's chastised by the captain's mate at an officers' meeting, it's as if God the Father is scolding Jesus. And if the captain's assistant is a celestial creature who pulls the strings, controlling the deity, then the captain has incredible power.

Engineer on watch

He is a kind of representative of the engineer and controls the reactor. When the operation of the reactor and steam generator is suspended, the reactor compartment engineer becomes the engineer on duty. When a reactor starts up or the reactor has reached critical mass, a watch engineer is appointed and he usually stands watch at the rear of the submarine. The engineer on watch will never leave the engine room.

The engineer on watch is responsible for the safety of the reactor and for general safety in the rear of the submarine. Of all the things he does, the duties of the engineer of watch during a sinking are among the most important, because skillful handling of the emergency switches can save the submarine from repeating the fate of the Thrasher.

Someone must definitely replace the engineer on watch at his post when he goes to the toilet. Although there are toilets in the tail section, they are not properly equipped.

Entering the reactor control room

In front of the door to the reactor control room there is a chain hanging at waist level. You remove the chain, but do not go inside until you say: “I am entering the reactor control room.”

Your favorite reactor operator will respond: “Got you, come in.” He holds his hand in the air and looks at the reactor control panel. You high-five him, stand in front of the reactor control panel and look at the instrument readings. Without saying a word, he hands you a large notepad over his shoulder. You look over the records of temperature, pressure and power level readings. After a few years, you can read these entries as easily as the expression on your girlfriend's face. The reactor condition is assessed as nominal.

Nominal level

When something is said to be in nominal condition, it means that:

there is a certain safe range for these indicators,

this indicator is within this range.

Nominal and normal are not the same thing; there is nothing normal on submarines. After all, what normal person would lock himself in an iron tube with 120 other sweating sailors, dive hundreds of meters deep for months, and voluntarily come dangerously close to nuclear weapons?

It's time to look at the steam installation control panel instruments located on the left. You glance at the instruments and nod to the officer keeping the ship moving. To the right of the panel is the electrical installation control panel. The electrical plant operator looks sleepy, so you push him and ask someone to bring him coffee. He is very grateful to you. You look at the instruments again and check the electrical installation operator's notes. The installation inside and outside the reactor control room is in nominal condition. You approach the engineer's watch chair, which is a long-legged chair (the kind you might see at a bar) located near a desk/bookshelf. Above the table hangs a huge schematic drawing of the location of the reactor pipelines. Using a black pencil, valves are indicated that are closed or open during the execution of a particular instruction. Valves labeled “danger” are marked in red and are usually closed. You are reviewing dangerous valves in the engineer's log book. We will now consider the supposed critical position.

A few more words about the nominal state: for example, you could ask: “How is your friend doing?” They may answer you: “Her condition is nominal.” This means that her condition is within the expected range, but it also implies that she is not necessarily in the best part of this range. Theoretically, your girlfriend can be both an angel and a demon, so everything that falls within this range is considered nominal. If the value falls on the better end of the spectrum, then the answer could be different.

Estimated critical state

Estimated critical state - calculation of the volume of negative reactivity in the reactor core due to the presence of xenon formed during the last shutdown of the reactor. You look at graphs that show the reactor life (hours used at full power), the number of operating hours since the last shutdown, and the "biography" of the reactor before the shutdown. All this affects the volume of xenon contained in the reactor core. You also take into account the temperature of the reactor. The graph will give you information about how far the control rods need to be removed from the reactor core to create a critical mass inside it. If the reactor has not reached critical mass, then Operations Instruction No. 27 requires you to check the calculations of the calculated critical state or the serviceability of the nuclear equipment. If the nuclear equipment is faulty and you keep removing control rods from the reactor core, you can cause the reactor to reach critical mass in an instant (see Chapter 6 for other types of reactor accidents).

A group of control rods is several rods that are connected to the inverter. For example, the outer ring of control rods is group 3. The middle ring is group 2, and the 6 central control rods make up group 1.

At a certain stage in the life of the reactor core, you begin to pull up group 3. You leave group 2 at the bottom of the reactor, and you pull up group 1 until it reaches critical mass. The phrase “I control the reactor with group 1” means that you control the temperature of the reactor core with group 1. Subsequently, groups 2 and 3 are swapped - group 2 at the top, and group 3 at the bottom of the reactor core. Thus, the fuel in the reactor is burned evenly.

An inverter is an electronic device that, like a large rheostat, uses resistors to reduce the DC voltage. As a result, it creates a step voltage wave function to create alternating current. It converts direct current into alternating current. The reactor control inverter uses three-stage alternating current, the inverter “freezes” the wave at a certain moment.

We call the engineer at home

You check the calculated critical state and note it in the log. If an engineer had been on board, he would have noted it too. Sometimes the engineer asks you to fax a printout of the estimated critical condition to his home, but since you are an experienced engineering officer, he simply asks you to call him and tell him how things are. You look at your watch: the submariner’s watch shows 2:15. You pick up the phone and dial the engineer's home number. You report the situation, and the sleepy engineer says that he recommends starting up the reactor.

The phone next to you rings. “Watch engineer,” you say.

“Officer on duty,” comes from the receiver. This is your roommate and workmate Keith, who gets drunk in the ports when the crew goes ashore, but is always as collected as an admiral. Someday he will rise to a high rank. “Time to call the captain. Did you get permission?

“Yes, request permission to launch the reactor,” he replies, observing all the formalities.

The whale can be your roommate on board and on land, and you know what he thinks before he does anything, but you must comply with all the formalities.

Looking through the instructions

While you wait, you look at the instructions. This is a book 12 centimeters thick. Paper is a work of engineering art, it is similar to the material from which envelopes are made for delivering documents over long distances. You open Instruction No. 27 and look through several paragraphs. The words are familiar to you, just as the words of the Bible are familiar to the priest.

The phone rings again. "Watch engineer"

“This is the duty officer. Start up the reactor."

“Yes, start the reactor,” you answer and hang up.

You take the 2MC Intercom System microphone from its stand, press a button, and listen to your voice resound like the voice of God throughout the engine room. You turn up the volume so you can be heard over the noise of the turbines. Your voice is louder because the submarine is like a grave, all the openings are closed. “Engine room watch controller, enter the reactor control room.”

You stand up and remove the reactor safety key chain from around your neck. With its help you open the drawer under the bookshelf. Inside it are three fuses, each the size of a flashlight. You close the drawer and hang the key back around your neck. The engine room watch controller stands in front of the door to the reactor control room along with the officer in charge of the ship's movement.

"Permission to enter the reactor control room."

“I allow it.” You hand over the fuses to the engine room watch controller and address him formally.

“Engine room watch controller, insert fuses into connectors A, B and C of the inverter and turn off the breakers that suspend the operation of the reactor.”

“Yes, place fuses in connectors A, B and C of the inverter and turn off the breakers that suspend the operation of the reactor.” He disappears to the front of the room for several minutes. You make an entry in the engineer's watch log and look up from the paper as soon as the engine room watch controller returns. "Permission to enter the reactor control room."

“I allow it.”

“Sir, fuses are inserted into connectors A, B and C. Breakers A, B and C, which suspend the operation of the reactor, are turned off.”

“Got you, thank you, and good luck with your launch.”

He slaps the reactor operator on the head. “Keep an eye on this guy, sir. There shouldn’t be any problems during my watch.”

The reactor operator spat out a curse without taking his eyes off the reactor control panel. You take a position behind the reactor operator where you can see the entire panel. You make another entry in the engineer's log: We begin the normal startup of the reactor.

"Reactor operator, begin normal reactor startup."

“Yes, start normal reactor startup.”

You take the microphone of the 2MS internal communication system and announce: “Begin normal reactor startup.”

Let's start the pumps

The reactor operator stands up and takes the lever to start the main cooling pumps in his hand. "Starting main pump No. 4 at low speed." He lifts the T-bar up and the pump starts. The warning light comes on and the pressure indicator jumps. “Start main pump No. 3 at low speed.” He starts the next pump. There are now 2 pumps running at low speed in each of the cooling loops, previously there was only one pump running in each loop. “Two pumps are running at low speed.”

"Got you."

“Group 3 control rods are locked,” the reactor operator announces. He moves the lever labeled "inverter" to position B. He then moves the linkage control knob in the center of the lower ramp from the 12 o'clock position to the 9 o'clock position. At the same time, he pulls the handle out of the panel by about 5 centimeters. “I connect the clamp voltage to inverter B.”

You are looking at the clamp voltage display. It doubles when the current from the clamp from inverter B flows towards the control rod holder of group 3. Before this, the holders were in the open position, but as soon as voltage was applied to them, when the switch handle was pulled out of the panel, the electromagnets of each holder were charged and the holder pressed on the threaded part of the control rod. To ensure that the holders are locked onto the threads, the operator inserts the rods into the reactor. At this time, the rods are already at the bottom, but he rotates the holders until they “catch” the thread.

“Group 3 thrusts are locked.”

"Got you."

“I’m raising the thrusters to the top of the reactor core,” he announces. He stands up and turns the handle to the right.

You won't be able to create critical mass in a reactor using group 3 thrusts unless there's some serious accident, but you're still watching the reactor control panel like a hawk.

“The light indicating that group 3 rods have left the bottom of the reactor has gone out,” the reactor operator reports.

The light on the outer ring of the lower control rods goes out as soon as the rods stop touching the bottom of the reactor.

The digital sensor readings increase as the thrust rises, with the group of thrusts at 60, 75, 87 centimeters, until finally the thrusts reach the top of the reactor. At the same time, you monitor the neutron level and the reactor startup level. Nothing much happens to any of these scales. If the reactor has been shut down for a long time, the neutron level will be so low that you will have to start the reactor on a "pull and wait" basis. Instead of pulling the rods out of the reactor core, the operator pulls the rods for 3 seconds and then watches the instrument readings for the remaining 57 seconds. You repeat this procedure for the next 5 hours until the reactor level returns to normal range.

The reactor operator releases the control lever only when the rod group reaches the top of the reactor core. “I’m fixing group 2,” says the reactor operator. He switches the inverter to position B and moves the switch to the 9 o'clock position by removing it from the panel. “I am applying voltage to group 2. Group 2 is locked.”

"Got you." Group 2 will remain at the bottom of the reactor core, secured so that if shaken, they will not jump up and cause a power surge.

“Fixing group 1.” He moves the inverter switch to position A and repeats the locking procedure. “Bringing out Group 1 to reach critical mass.”

You stare in suspense at the neutron level scale and the launch level scale.

"The light indicating that Group 1 has left the bottom of the reactor has gone out."

It takes a lot of force to remove the control rods from the reactor core, but it doesn't take much force to push them in. This was intentional: Admiral Rickover wanted the reactor operator to know when he was increasing the reactor's power. During a long startup, the operator's hands shake as he removes the control rods from the core. The control rod control lever always returns to the neutral position when the operator removes his hand from it.

The first sway of the reactor launch level needle

As soon as group 1 leaves the reactor core, the reactor start level sensor needle will move from zero and settle at 0.2 decades per minute. The operator continues to pull the rod until the needle stops at the 1 decade per minute mark, and then releases the lever. The trigger level drops to 0. It pulls again and the level rises to 1 decade per minute. The needle on the device showing the neutron level gradually rises, every few minutes showing changes in the level by an order of magnitude (first 10–9, 10–8, 10–7, and so on). Finally, when the reactor firing rate has reached 10-1 per minute, the operator moves the control rod switch to the neutral position. The reactor startup level stabilizes around 0.3 decades per minute.

“The reactor has reached critical mass,” he announces, making a note in his journal. The calculated value of the critical state showed that the critical mass would be reached at a distance of 60 centimeters. In fact, this happened at an altitude of 56.88 centimeters. Not bad at all.

You take the 1MC communication system microphone, which is located next to the 2MC microphone. Now your announcement can be heard in all areas on board the submarine.

“The reactor,” here you pause theatrically, “has reached critical mass!” You make another entry and the run continues.

“I’m withdrawing group 1 to go into operating mode,” says the reactor operator. He again grabs the control rod control lever and brings the launch level to 1 decade per minute. The neutron level in the reactor core slowly reaches operating levels. The arrow of the intermediate regime also begins to rise; the two regimes coincide in the second decade. “Source level channel selector switch in start mode, pause off,” he says, turning a large switch on the panel.

“Got you,” you confirm. At this stage, the nuclear equipment is supplied with energy from the source level channel selector switch. If the sensitive neutron detector had been powered for much longer, it would have failed due to neutron bombardment. At this stage, a signal to automatically suspend the reactor from the initial start-up level sensor can no longer be received. Protection is now provided by the intermediate trigger level sensor. If the level exceeds 9 decades per minute, the reactor will automatically shut down.

There was now enough radioactivity in the reactor that the operator could remove the control rods and set the level at 1.5 decades per minute. When he releases the lever, the level drops to 1 decade per minute. Now the reactor will begin to “wake up” on its own, and you simply watch how its level gradually moves from the starting level to the intermediate one. At the end of the intermediate mode is the operating mode. In operating mode, the reactor is capable of increasing the temperature of the coolant.

Towards the end of the intermediate regime, the heating level drops to 0. The reactor operator pulls out the control rods and watches the instrument readings.

“The reactor has entered operating mode,” he says. You repeat these words over the 2MS communication system. “Heating the main coolant to green zone temperature,” he announces.

Now that the reactor has entered operating mode, raising the control rods increases the power of the reactor, as a result of which the coolant heats up. The average coolant temperature or Tav is now 182 °C.

“I’m stabilizing the reactor heating level,” he says and puts the graph on top of the log book.

Until the main coolant temperature settles in the green zone, the reactor temperature may increase more rapidly at startup. Since the starting temperature is quite high - 182 °C, we can heat up the reactor quickly. If the initial temperature of the reactor had been lower, its heating would have been limited to a few hundredths of a degree per minute, and startup would have taken much longer.

T av is the average temperature of the main coolant that enters and leaves the reactor. If Tin = 238 °C and Tout = 260 °C, then Tav = 249 °C. T avg should always be in the green zone between 246 °C and 251.5 °C. All reactor safety studies were carried out on the basis that T av is in the green zone. If the temperature of the reactor goes out of this range during operation, then no one will give you any guarantees that an accident will not occur. When T av leaves the permissible range, the reactor operator pulls out and re-enters the control rods to lower or increase T av. (In operating mode, the reactor power depends on the influx of steam. The throttle operator regulates the reactor power using the degree of opening of the throttles, and the control rods in this case only add power to the reactor core in order to change T avg.)

Warming up the reactor core

Over the next 30 minutes, the operator warms up the reactor core. The T avg arrow gradually rises. The reactor power level gauge reads between 0 and 5% as the reactor heats up.

“T Wed is in the green zone, sir,” he reports.

“Got you. - You take the 2MC intercom. - Engine room watch controller, go into the reactor control room."

The engine room watch controller asks permission to enter the reactor control room. You sign for him to enter, and together with him you look at the reactor control panel. Then you give him the order to start the steam plant: “Engine room watch controller, start the main steam plants 1 and 2. Let steam into the engine room, heat the main steam shoes, create a vacuum in the main condensers on the starboard and port sides, start the turbines on the starboard and port sides.” port side and warm up the main engines on the starboard and port sides.”

This is the only time the engine room watch controller does not repeat the order. This exception has become a tradition.

He disappears to head towards the front of the sub. While you wait, you know that he and the upper level watch in the engine room are opening valves through which steam from the steam boilers can pass and reach the large baffles shutting off the MS-1 and MS-2 valves. This will lower the pressure drop across the valves, making them easier to open. When the pressure difference becomes less than 3.3 atm, the engine room watch controller and the engine room upper level watchmen will begin to open valves MS-1 and MS-2. It will take a good 5 minutes for each valve to open.

“The sensor shows the opening of the MS-2 valve,” says the reactor operator. The light bulb on its panel changed its shape from oblong to round. A few minutes later he announces the opening of the MS-1 valve.

There is noise. The steam pad begins to heat up, and the water in it, formed as a result of condensation, is blown out by steam pressure. The noise you hear is the engine room watchman, and the upper level engine room watchmen are blowing out the steam siphons, devices that keep condensation - droplets of water - out of the steam blocks. After 10 minutes of blowing the pads, the watch controller of the engine room and the watchmen of the lower level of the engine room create a vacuum in the condensers.

They run the main seawater pumps on the starboard and port side, and then use the steam pressure of the auxiliary steam system to pump air out of the condensers. Condensation of steam causes a vacuum: steam occupies a much larger volume than liquid, which is why a vacuum occurs in condensers. But at the beginning of the cycle, there is a lot of air in the pipes, and the air does not condense. Using special devices with ventilation pipes, air blowers, steam is passed through these pipes to create low pressure. As a result, air is sucked out of the condensers and enters the engine room. It is these air blowers that will make the engine room radioactive, as if you were using a reactor in which the water is in a boiling state, or if you had a coolant leak from the primary into the secondary cooling loop.

Soon the engine room watch controller returns to the upper level of the engine room and begins to spin the turbine generator on the port side. You will hear when the turbine begins to rotate. At first it rumbles. Then it growls, groans and screams like a jet plane. The sound rises to a deafening screech and finally turns into a howl until the frequency rises to a high-pitched whistle.

The engine room watch controller appears in the doorway and says: “The turbine generator on the port side is started and ready to take the load.”

Switching the electrical installation

Time to switch the electrical installation. “Electric operator,” you say, “switch the electrical installation to half the power from the turbine generator.” The operator acknowledges receipt of the order and then connects his synchroscope to the turbine generator breaker. It will manipulate the voltage and frequency in the auxiliary turbine generator chopper on its external power bus. The two power rails must be synchronized. This means that the alternating current, the voltage of which falls and rises, must have the same value on both sides of the breaker. The meter compares the AC frequency on both sides of the breaker and the needle rotates slowly toward the "fast" pointer. If the frequency of the auxiliary turbine generator is higher, the generator will slow down when it takes on the load. When the hand reaches the 12 o'clock position, the electrical installation operator turns the breaker control knob and the auxiliary turbine generator breaker closes. It does this to redistribute the load of the main generator to the auxiliary one.

“The electrical plant operates at 50% power and is connected to an auxiliary turbine generator.”

You make the same announcement on the 2MS system. The engine room watch controller disappeared to the lower level of the engine room to start the main feed pump. The steam generator's power level has been decreasing since it opened valves MS-1 and MS-2. You hear the pump start and the steam generator water level indicators on the steam generator control panel return to normal.

Soon the engine room watch controller starts the turbine on the starboard side and reports that it is ready to take the load. After performing the same operation on the control panel of the electrical installation, the operator reports that the installation is ready to operate at full capacity.

You command the electrical installation operator to open the shore power breaker.

“Electrical installation operator,” you command, “disconnect the shore power cables.” They electrician climb into the hatch to access the cables and disconnect them. When they've finished, you contact the duty officer and report that shore power has been cut off. You then ask permission to spin the shaft to warm up the main engines. He allows it.

The cables are too heavy to lift by hand. In order to unload them from the side of the submarine, you have to use a crane.

Opening the throttles

The engine room watch controller starts the main engine turbines and transfers control of them to the officer in charge of the ship's movement. Over the next 8 hours, it will open the throttles every few minutes to keep the main engines warm. Since the clutch is involved in this process, the shaft turns the screw half a turn, but this is acceptable because it does not create a large load on the mooring ropes.

You're done. Now the reactor is operating at approximately 18% of its capacity, and T av is in the green zone of about 249 °C. Now all you have to do is wait until you are relieved, and you can go to the officers' meeting, and then to the bridge to lead the submarine to sea. You yawn and accept a cup of coffee from the watchmen on the upper level of the engine room.

The minimum you need to know:

The captain's mate is the busiest person on board the submarine.

The chief engineer is responsible for the operation of the nuclear reactor.

Nominal and normal are not the same thing; there is nothing normal on a submarine.

The engineer on watch is solely responsible for the safety of the reactor and for the general safety in the rear of the submarine.

Disconnecting the shore power cables is the last step before the submarine becomes completely independent from the shore.

From the book Miracle Weapons of the USSR. Secrets of Soviet weapons [with illustrations] author Shirokorad Alexander Borisovich

Chapter 3. The Atomic Project After a brief outline of the work of the sharashkas, which Beria led only as People's Commissar, let's move on to projects in which Beria was the immediate leader and personally responsible for their progress. There is another fundamental difference here. Until 1945

From the book Chernobyl. How it was author Dyatlov Anatoly Stepanovich

Chapter 11. Court Court as a court. Ordinary Soviet. Everything was predetermined in advance. After two meetings in June 1986, the MVTS, chaired by Academician A.P. Aleksandrov, dominated by employees of the Ministry of Medium Engineering - the authors of the reactor project, was announced

From the book Strike Ships Part 1 Aircraft Carriers. Missile and artillery ships author Apalkov Yuri Valentinovich

Heavy nuclear-powered aircraft-carrying cruiser Ulyanovsk pr. 11437 MAIN TE Displacement, t: – standard 65,800 – full 75,000 Main dimensions, m: – maximum length (according to KVA) 321.2 (274.0) – maximum hull width (according to KVA) 42, 0 (40.0) – width with angled flight deck 83.9 – average draft

From the book Explosion and Explosives author Andreev Konstantin Konstantinovich

Heavy nuclear missile cruiser Kirov Ave. 1144 – 1(1) MAIN TE Displacement, t: – standard 24,100 – full 24,400 Main dimensions, m: – maximum length (along overhead line) 251.0 (228.0) – maximum hull width ( on overhead line) 28.5 (24.0) – average draft 10.33 Crew (including officers), people 727

From the book The Rustle of a Grenade author Prishchepenko Alexander Borisovich

7. Atomic explosion The explosions that we discussed in previous sections are based on various chemical reactions that release heat, mainly combustion reactions. However, the amount of heat released during these chemical reactions is relatively small

From the book Four Lives of Academician Berg author Radunskaya Irina Lvovna

2.4. Nuclear reactor torpedo: launch faster! The day of defending my thesis was approaching. It did not mention the surface trigger sensor: then it was necessary to describe all the details of its use, with data on the power of warheads and the security of mines

From the book Submarines author DiMercurio Michael

Chapter 1 ROOTS OF DESTINY OPERATION “WORM” Orenburg at the end of the 19th century. Small wooden houses. Stray chickens roam the narrow streets, melancholic goats thoughtfully chew the stunted roadside grass. Winding in the dust, the streets converge in the city center at a large, beautiful house. For

From the author's book

Chapter 6 INTRODUCTION TO DESTINY STORM Before the combat commander, deprived of the opportunity to continue serving not only on submarines, but also on surface warships, there were two well-trodden paths. The first is to continue serving in headquarters or departments. Second way -

From the author's book

Chapter 1 RETURN DO YOU BELIEVE?! Miracles happen at all times. After three painful years of suspicion and mistrust - rehabilitation. A difficult, strange time has come. A thousand days swept through Berg's life, and every day tore his soul and heart. Waves that tear apart the brain

From the author's book

Chapter 2 AT THE FRONT TURNING TURN The year 1943 began under new conditions. German losses at Stalingrad: 175 thousand killed and 137 thousand prisoners, 23 divisions surrounded - these figures shocked the whole world. The enormous success changed the entire situation at the front. Even the allies perked up. Italy

From the author's book

Chapter 3 COMPLEX FAIRWAYS OF DEAD POINT How will this unusual and ordinary story develop further? A story so similar to those that play out around us and with us in everyday and always so unique life. Events in Berg’s personal life were brewing. In the People’s Commissariat

From the author's book

Chapter 2 PARALLELS DEPEND BEYOND! When Soviet cyberneticians stopped wasting some of their efforts on disputes, but focused on their direct responsibilities, their brainchild - cybernetic machines began to make rapid progress. Electronic machines are climbing higher and higher.

From the author's book

Chapter 4 MEETING ON VERSHINEROSES AND FISH You read the “Problem Notes”, and what is striking is the organic interweaving of numerous scientific directions, the close collaboration of different sections. The bionics section, for example, studies living organisms with the aim of transferring them to technology

From the author's book

Chapter 5 YOGI'S HAPPIEST DAY! To make a snow woman, the boy rolled a small lump of snow in his palms, threw it on the ground, rolled it, and the lump began to grow, layering with new layers of snow. It gets harder and harder to roll... The boy wipes it with a mitten

From the author's book

Part 2 The Atomic Age If we stick to the definition of a submarine as “a submerged vessel independent of the surface,” then the first real submarine was the nuclear submarine Nautilus. This was one of the greatest achievements of science in the 20th century: the path from point A (Enrico Fermi

From the author's book

Chapter 8 Entering the Atomic Age In this chapter, the time of the decay of the atom. Construction of power plants. Installation of a power plant on a submarine. The ideal test bench.Radioactive or molecularly unstable elements were first discovered in 1895 when William

Nuclear submarines and other nuclear-powered ships use radioactive fuel - mainly uranium - to turn water into steam. The resulting steam rotates turbogenerators, which produce electricity to propel the ship and power various onboard equipment.

Radioactive materials like uranium release thermal energy through the process of nuclear decay, when the unstable nucleus of an atom is split into two parts. This releases a huge amount of energy. On a nuclear submarine, this process is carried out in a thick-walled reactor, which is continuously cooled with running water to avoid overheating or even melting of the walls. Nuclear fuel is particularly popular with the military on submarines and aircraft carriers due to its extraordinary efficiency. On one piece of uranium the size of a golf ball, a submarine could circle the globe seven times. However, nuclear energy poses dangers not only to the crew, who could be harmed if a radioactive release occurs on board. This energy poses a potential threat to all life in the sea, which could be poisoned by radioactive waste.

Schematic diagram of the engine compartment with a nuclear reactor

In a typical nuclear reactor engine (left), cooled water is pressurized into the reactor vessel containing nuclear fuel. The heated water leaves the reactor and is used to turn other water into steam, and then, when cooled, is returned to the reactor. Steam rotates the blades of a turbine engine. The gearbox converts the rapid rotation of the turbine shaft into a slower rotation of the electric motor shaft. The electric motor shaft is connected to the propeller shaft using a clutch mechanism. In addition to transmitting rotation to the propeller shaft, the electric motor generates electricity, which is stored in on-board batteries.

Nuclear reaction

In the reactor cavity, the atomic nucleus, consisting of protons and neutrons, is struck by a free neutron (figure below). The impact splits the nucleus, and in this case, in particular, neutrons are released, which bombard other atoms. This is how a chain reaction of nuclear fission occurs. This releases a huge amount of thermal energy, that is, heat.

A nuclear submarine cruises along the coast in a surface position. Such ships need to replenish fuel only once every two to three years.

The control group in the conning tower monitors the adjacent water area through a periscope. Radar, sonar, radio communications and cameras with scanning systems also assist in the navigation of this vessel.

The original was taken from a colleague zvezdochka_ru in "Goldfish". Threats lifted

In the last days of March, specialists and workers at Zvezdochka completed unloading spent nuclear fuel and sealing the reactors of the nuclear submarine K-162, the famous and famous Golden Fish. This ship occupies a special place in the list of nuclear-powered ships dismantled at the Yagrinsky shipyard.

Nuclear submarine K-162 of project 661 ("Anchar") manager. No. 501. Photo borrowed from the site bastion-karpenko.ru

The nuclear submarine "K-162" is known even to people far from submarines. A unique body made of titanium alloys, original nuclear reactors, promising solid-fuel cruise missiles. When designing the ship, it was decided not to use industrially developed automation systems, equipment, instruments and materials on the ship. The boat was built for a technological breakthrough, and it took place. Already during state tests, the ship showed unprecedented speed characteristics, accelerating at a measured mile to 42 knots at 80% of the reactor power, and after some time the ship set an absolute world record for underwater speed, which has not yet been broken. At full power, the Golden Fish reached a speed of 44.7 knots.

In 1988, after two decades of service, the K-162 was withdrawn from the fleet and subsequently went for disposal to the Sevmash Production Association, where for a long time it stood moored at one of the berths.

Long-term storage of the nuclear submarine afloat without repairs had a detrimental effect on the technical condition of the ship. During the layover period, almost all ship systems degraded. Of particular concern was the state of the ship's systems, which ensured the ship's unsinkability and its explosion and fire safety. There was a real danger of unauthorized sinking of the nuclear submarine. The sunken K-162 turned into a radioactive bomb. Reactive titanium in salt water would cause rapid corrosion of equipment and pipelines made of steel and copper, which, in turn, threatened the destruction of the structural barriers to protect the reactors and the spread of radiation. The life time allotted to the “Golden Fish” was running out, and in 2009 it was decided to begin work on dismantling the ship.

Head No. 501 was placed on a floating dock to form a three-compartment block.

In July 2009, in compliance with all naval traditions, the unique submarine was transferred to the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center. "K-162" arrived at its last berth.

A unique ship is unique in every way. Its disposal was no exception. The most difficult part of the project was the unloading of spent nuclear fuel. The design features of the K-162 reactors did not allow the use of equipment used for unloading reactors of dismantled nuclear submarines of other projects to remove fuel assemblies. The “native” set of refueling equipment of Project 661 was used to recharge reactors only once thirty years ago and, as its operation showed, even then it required serious design modifications. At the present time, using this equipment for the safe unloading of spent nuclear fuel seemed completely impossible. Its service life expired a decade and a half ago; long-term storage in inappropriate conditions rendered some of the reloading equipment unusable. Some part of the equipment was completely lost. It became clear that the nuclear submarine dismantlement schemes familiar to Zvezdochka are not applicable in the case of Zolotoy Rybka. There was no time left for lengthy discussions either.

Restoring the functionality of equipment and fittings, developing a set of design and technological documentation, unloading spent fuel and dismantling nuclear submarines required significant budgetary funds, which were not possible to plan at that time. However, thanks to the efforts of Rosatom State Corporation and JSC FCNR, it was possible to agree to include the project for unloading spent fuel from the reactors of the K-162 nuclear submarine in the list of projects of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Support Fund, created under the auspices of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

After a comprehensive discussion of the project, an extraordinary decision was made: at the first stage, dismantle the bow and stern ends of the boat, form a three-compartment block and carry out work to ensure its unsinkability. In parallel, carry out work on the restoration of the set of reloading equipment, its structural modification and the manufacture of additional equipment. It was decided to carry out work on unloading spent fuel from the reactors at the final stage of the project.

Schematic diagram of SNF unloading and handling.

This approach was fundamentally contrary to the existing regulations for the dismantling of nuclear submarines. To resolve this contradiction, it was necessary to develop new documents, coordinate them in dozens of authorities, and organize interaction between design organizations. This work had to be coordinated by the autonomous non-profit organization Aspect-Conversion. Zvezdochka specialists, commenting on the participation of Aspect-Conversion in the Zolotoy Rybka dismantlement project, expressed a unanimous opinion that without Anatoly Tsubannikov, the project manager on the part of Aspect-Conversion and its director Nikolai Shumkov, the start of unloading spent nuclear fuel from K- 162" could be delayed for many months, or even years.

Other project participants also worked on their tasks promptly. JSC "NIKIET im. Dollezhal, being the designer of the reactors, provided support for all work related to them. Designers of OKBM im. Afrikantova" became involved in the design of an improved set of reloading equipment. The Krylov Center checked and issued a conclusion on the readiness of Zvezdochka to carry out work on unloading spent nuclear fuel. The Center for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Technology took part in the development of documentation for equipping the onshore unloading complex. NIPTB "Onega" developed the unloading technology and designed the technological equipment.

Testing a set of reloading equipment.

The managing center of the project was the marketing and contractual work bureau of UTNiSO under the leadership of Alexey Dolganov. As Alexey himself notes, the organizational foundation created at the initial stage of work to prepare Zvezdochka for unloading spent fuel from the K-162 reactors was a significant help in his work. Huge credit here belongs to the deputy head of the department, Maxim Sheptukhin. He supervised the project not only at the preparatory stage, but also at the stage of recycling the boat's hull structures and forming a three-compartment block.

The complexities of the project to unload spent nuclear fuel from the Zolotaya Rybka were not limited only to the engineering and technological features of the boat. We had to do a huge amount of organizational work - contracts, tenders, approvals, disagreements between the parties, negotiations, reports. The burden of this work was carried by the group of Evgeniy Baranov and Natalya Samutina.


Three-section block K-162 in floating dock PD-52

Work on the disposal of K-162 began in 2010. The “Goldfish” was placed on a floating dock and gas cutters climbed aboard. Titanium hull structures required Zvezdochka workers and engineers to take unprecedented measures to prevent fires when cutting the hull. Titanium and fire are a dangerous combination, and a fire on a boat with unloaded fuel is an emergency of the highest danger class. Despite the huge volume of hot work on board the K-162, not a single fire occurred during the entire period of disposal of the hull structures. Work on forming the three-compartment block and launching it into the water was completed without incident. Part of the threat from the "Goldfish" was removed. It should be noted that during the hull work, Zvezdochka made efforts to keep the deckhouse of the legendary boat intact. Today it is stored at the enterprise and, perhaps, someday will become part of a memorial dedicated to the work of Severodvinsk shipbuilders. It’s awkward, but today in the city that built the domestic nuclear submarine fleet, there is no symbol that illustrates this specificity of the city.


Fencing of retractable devices No. 501

In 2011, the three-compartment Zolotaya Rybka took part in large-scale exercises on nuclear and radiation safety. According to the legend of the exercises, it was there that an uncontrolled release of radiation occurred, accompanying the fire. Significant forces and resources were involved in the exercises - “Zvezdochka”, “Sevmash”, specialized fire departments, municipal and regional structures. The exercise was observed by representatives of the IAEA, who highly appreciated the actions of the participants.


Exercise episode. Fire crews practice extinguishing a fire at a nuclear hazardous facility

In May 2013, Zvezdochka began unloading spent nuclear fuel from the K-162 reactors. Despite the careful study of the project, certain problems and risks still remained. The reactors are unique, the fuel has been in the reactors for more than 30 years and the actual condition of the assemblies is unknown. The non-serial nature of reactors and reloading equipment could cause emergency situations, both during testing and during unloading, and this would require modifications, repairs, and increased time and cost.

The transfer container is lowered onto the reactor to receive the fuel assembly.

After testing a set of reloading equipment, the three-compartment block “K-162” was placed on a floating dock, the reactor compartment was opened, and the unloading platform and technological equipment were installed. Testing of the reloading equipment set has been completed. Fuel unloading began. Over seven hundred radioactive rods needed to be moved from the submarine's reactors into special transport containers. Each of the fuel assemblies poses a colossal threat. The slightest failure, a minor violation of technology can cause an accident with severe consequences. Needless to say, what a huge burden of responsibility lay on the shoulders of the head of unloading - deputy head of specialized recycling production, Igor Pastukhov. Day after day, month after month, daily work that cannot be allowed to become routine. You cannot allow yourself and your workers to get used to it and weaken your attention and demands. Zvezdochka workers receive milk for working in dangerous conditions. Igor Pastukhov should also be given chocolate and cognac sets for the incredible psychological stress.


Head of unloading Igor Pastukhov.

In August 2014, the first cassette with a radioactive rod from the port side reactor was moved into a transport container. The work has begun. Up to twenty fuel assemblies left the boat every day. There were some rough edges too. Unloading the central compensating group of the left side reactor revealed minor deficiencies in the refueling equipment. The equipment was modified and unloading continued. From then on, delays occurred only due to adverse weather conditions. Already in December, the first special train carrying spent nuclear fuel to the Ural Mayak plant for storage and reprocessing left Zvezdochka.


Loading of a transport container with spent nuclear fuel for transportation to a temporary storage facility

During the work, special attention was paid to radiation control. Dosimetrists also worked together with the sensors of the automated control system, monitoring the radiation situation manually at all facilities involved in the unloading. Looking ahead, it must be said that during the work, not a single emergency situation occurred that caused a change in the radiation background.

SNF temporary storage facility


And these are the indicators of the dosimeter at the temporary storage point. The natural background in Severodvinsk is twice as high.

The port side reactor was unloaded by December 1, 2014, and on March 18, 2015, the unloading of spent fuel from the second Zolotoy Rybka reactor was completed. By the end of March, both reactors were sealed. All that remains is to remove the technical flooring and equipment, return the removable sheet of the durable hull into place and prepare the three-compartment for towing - install the handrails, towing device, and signal lights. During the upcoming navigation, the three-compartment ship “K-162” will be towed to Sayda Bay on the Kola Peninsula. There it will be lifted ashore, the reactor compartment will be prepared and transferred to a long-term storage facility. The history of the fastest nuclear-powered ship will end. Thanks to the efforts of hundreds of Zvezdochka employees, design institutes, and cooperative enterprises, the completion of this story became safe. Your beloved city can sleep peacefully.

PS: We know that the tactical number on the K-162 was changed to K-222.

 

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