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Westinghouse Awarded $73-Million Modification To Navy Nuclear Contract Westinghouse Electric Corpo- ration, Bettis Atomic Power Lab- ratory, West Mifflin Borough, Pa., has been awarded a $73,413,- 000 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee con- tract for naval nuclear propul- sion research and development. The work will be performed at various places. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (N00024-79-C-4026) Soviets Plan Nuclear Powered Merchant Ship, To Be Completed By 1984 The USSR has launched a nu- clear merchant shipbuilding pro- gram which will, by the close of the 1980s, make the Soviet mer- chant marine the only one to have both nuclear-powered ice- breakers and cargo vessels. According to a report in the journal "Soviet Shipping," the first nuclear-powered merchant ship will be a lighter carrier with a displacement in excess of 60,000 tons and a speed of up to 20 knots—the largest dry cargo ship in the Soviet fleet. The Soviets already have three nuclear-powered oceangoing ice- breakers in operation. The new nuclear merchant ship is expected to be completed by 1984. According to the Soviet report, the new lighter carrier will have a 40,000-hp power plant. The ship will be able to transport 73 light- ers of 450 tons each, or more than 1,300 containers. Western maritime observers have pointed out that a number of problems have plagued the op- eration of Soviet nuclear-powered ships. The Soviets have admitted a number of shortcomings, in- cluding the short service life of major equipment, poor maintain- ability, and imperfect compart- ment designs for radioactive de- contamination. But the Soviet Merchant Ma- rine Ministry has said categori- cally that during the past 20 years "there has not been a sin- gle radiation accident onboard Soviet nuclear icebreakers dan- gerous to the crew or the envi- ronment." Nevertheless, the Soviets have disclosed that after six naviga- tion seasons, the plant onboard the first nuclear icebreaker, the Lenin, was replaced by an im- proved version. The Soviets assert that the oceangoing nuclear icebreakers have an "unlimited sailing range, and an endurance of between 500- 700 days." By comparison, they said, the endurance of Western icebreakers does not exceed 50 days. The Soviets complained that "not much information" has ap- peared in the West about Soviet nuclear-powered icebreakers. Under present building plans, another giant icebreaker already is under construction. The Ros- siya, when completed, possibly by 1983-84, will be the fourth such icebreaker in the Soviet fleet. The others are the Lenin, Arktika and the Sibir. The Soviet report said that pre- viously launched atomic-powered merchant ships in the West and Japan were unsatisfactory. It claimed that these vessels had "not lived up to expectations . . ." It remains to be seen, noted Western maritime observers, how other countries will react to hav- ing nuclear-powered cargo ships trading in their ports. The Russian report said the technology used in building the new nuclear-powered lighter car- rier is "quite suitable and efficient for northern trade." It added that "the strengthened hull and the mighty power plant will en- able the lighter carrier to force ice fields." The USSR Merchant Marine Ministry said recently concerning merchant ships used in Arctic conditions that, "the growth of Arctic shipments demanded by growth of the national economy, has called for a new effort to cre- ate a new dependable transporta- tion system." The ministry said the operation of oceangoing nuclear vessels "has proven the efficiency of their reactors and the feasibility of such plants in other super ice- breakers and transport ships." 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