ABSTRACT
Encouraged by their own success and neglecting the bad omens that the early accidents and mishaps conveyed, the inventors of the Soviet atomic bomb project soon picked up on the idea to use the energetic potential of nuclear fission for additional purposes. The most urgent application of interest in this context was the use of atomic energy for submarine propulsion. Like the Americans, the Soviets expected this to revolutionize military navigation in the unfolding Cold War. Accordingly, they initiated experiments to determine whether they could build a nuclear reactor compact enough for installation on a submarine. Hoping to make use of their experience from plutonium production and bomb making, they first designed a graphite-moderated test reactor. But it soon turned out that such a device would not work in the navigational context, as it could not be reduced sufficiently in weight and size. 62 They then decided to imitate a submarine reactor design that was known to be under development in the United States: the pressurized water reactor. This path proved more successful and became the basis for a large fleet of nuclear-powered Soviet submarines. Construction of the first pioneering vessel, the Leninskii Komsomol, was launched at a shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea coast in 1954. 63 The reactor was subsequently adapted for civilian transport as well, starting with a nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Lenin. 64
