Russia announced on Monday that a fire on a Soviet-era nuclear-powered cargo-icebreaker ship had been extinguished and that there were no casualties or threat to the reactor’s security. The fire broke out on Sunday in one of the cabins while the Sevmorput ship was docked in Murmansk, Russia. The emergency ministry reported that the fire, which covered an area of about 30 square meters at its peak, was quickly brought under control and put out with no injuries. The state company that owns the vessel, Atomflot, confirmed that the fire had been successfully extinguished and assured that there was no damage to the reactor plant or any crucial support systems. Atomflot is a unit of the Rosatom state nuclear corporation and operates Russia’s fleet of nuclear icebreakers.
Murmansk, a region in Russia’s northwest, shares borders with Finland and Norway and is a point of access to the Barents and White seas. The Sevmorput ship, which was commissioned in 1988 and underwent a major upgrade a decade ago, is Russia’s only nuclear-powered icebreaking transport ship, according to Rosatom.