© Sarah Christine Noergaard / AFP
The new nuclear reactor will be able to run during the whole lifecycle of a next-generation submarine, Afrikantov Design Bureau, a Rosatom subsidiary, said in an annual report. It said the company upgraded and tested newer design of the so-called 'active zone' - a heart of every reactor - allowing it to generate more power than its predecessors.
While being enormously efficient in terms of generated energy, a submarine-mounted nuclear reactor has to be refueled after several years in service. Normally, refueling means a lengthy and costly procedure which involves replacement of exhausted nuclear fuel as well as fix-ups, renovation and sometimes an upgrade of the entire vessel.
Now, with the new invention coming into use, Russian submarines will no longer need to undergo refueling and a reactor overhaul. Admiral Vladimir Popov, previously a Northern Fleet commander, suggested the "perpetual reactor" will see a rapid increase in the Navy's capabilities, according to RIA Novosti.
He told that nuclear refueling is called "a number one operation" in the navy, which takes more than a month. During this time, the vessel - a nuclear-powered sub or a warship - is effectively taken out as a fighting unit and is unable to set sail.
Russia has unveiled other nuclear-related innovations over the past few months. Previously, President Vladimir Putin spoke of a strategic cruise missile with an almost unlimited range.
According to Putin, this is achieved due to a highly-efficient on-board miniaturized nuclear reactor, which powers the projectile. Such a missile can fly low enough to avoid early detection, can change course to avoid enemy anti-missile assets along its route, and maneuver to pierce the anti-missile systems protecting its target.
He also said at the time that miniaturizing a reactor boosted the design of another advanced weapons system - a high-endurance underwater drone. The drone can allegedly dive deep and travel through oceans at a speed that is several times higher than that of a submarine, a modern torpedo or even a surface ship.
Russia completed trials of a seaborne nuclear reactor in December 2017. The reactor is "100 times smaller" than those used by nuclear-propelled submarines and generates more power, Putin claimed. It can also reach its peak power 200 times faster than a conventional nuclear power plant.
Comment: This is what happens when you have an industry concerned with results, not profits. The Russian military creates technology to work. The U.S. military contractors, by contrast, make sure to use the most expensive parts, from various manufacturers (even if they're not totally compatible), in order to jack up costs to the limit, so their no-bid contracts from the government will net them huge profits. (They also just bribe the government to get such contracts.) And they can't even produce decent tech as a result. Just like at the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the F-35...