Severstal supplies steel for the nuclear icebreaker

PJSC Severstal has manufactured and supplied rolled metal products for the construction of the head nuclear icebreaker of Project 10510, LK-120Ya, code "Leader". The construction of the nuclear-powered ship began at the Zvezda shipyard in Bolshoy Kamen, which belongs to Rosneft. The ship will become the most powerful nuclear-powered ship in the history of world shipbuilding. This project, the most difficult from a technical point of view, has no analogues in the world. Its main task is to provide year-round navigation of the merchant fleet along the Northern Sea Route. The Leader project will become the basis for a new generation of the Russian icebreaker fleet.

Severstal supplied several types of rolled metal for the project: these are high-strength steels of grades A40 and D40, as well as steels with increased strength and improved weldability with a guarantee of resistance to layered fracture D500W and E500W. The employees produced a full range of rolled products from 11 to 48 millimeters thick.

Steel smelting was carried out in the steelmaking industry of the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant. Since the beginning of the development of this product in 2015, the division has implemented a number of investment projects aimed at improving the quality of products of the linear shipbuilding range. For example, a new ladle furnace was put into operation to improve the out-of-furnace treatment of such steels. As part of the procedure for obtaining a certificate of manufacturer's recognition, the technology for the production of shipbuilding steel with increased strength and improved weldability with a guarantee of resistance to layered ruptures with the "Arc" index was confirmed, which is used for any structural elements without temperature limitations of possible thickness up to 70 mm,

Rolled metal, heat treatment and subsequent application of the factory primer were carried out in the subdivisions of the Kolpino industrial site of Severstal - at mill 5000 of the flat-rolling shop for the production of pipe products and SMTs-Kolpino.

For the prompt delivery of products to a client in the Far East, the company's specialists applied a number of effective logistics solutions. So, the order was first shipped on inclined platforms. Previously, this delivery format was only used for assortment of strips. This approach required training and preparation for loading and unloading operations both for the employees of SMC-Kolpino and the Zvezda shipbuilding complex. At the same time, dispatchers and logistics managers of Severstal provided round-the-clock tracking of trains, tracking the condition and location of wagons with products. This made it possible to meet the ambitious schedule in just 20 days.

The length of the new nuclear-powered ship will be 210 meters, width - 47 meters, draft - 13 meters. The icebreaker Rossiya will be equipped with two RITM-400 nuclear reactors, four turbines and four rowing engines.