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Babcock Marine has successfully completed the refuelling of Trafalgar class nuclear-powered attack submarine
HMS Triumph; the work marked the end of an era as the last SSN refuel, and last use of the refuel crane at
Devonport Royal Dockyard; the second image shows the low level refuelling facility at Devonport.
around seven months, from removing the reactor head M Resjetkin (head of naval resources and support),
to access the fuel modules, to replacing the reactor head accompanied by Colonel Andrey B Sivov (the military
when refuelling is complete. It involves some 75 highly attaché in The Netherlands).
skilled refuellers to undertake this extremely complex and Russia has identified The Netherlands as an
technically demanding procedure, which is carried out to important player in the market for naval technology,
the most rigorous of safety standards. Babcock Marine has and the Ministry of Defence in the Russian Federation
considerable knowledge and experience in this field, and has indicated that it is open for cooperation with Dutch
is the only company in the country with the facilities and equipment producers and shipyards.
expertise to undertake open core reactor work. A number of Dutch companies were present during
This was the last time a PWR1 reactor (as used the meeting, including Imtech Marine & Offshore,
on SSNs) was to be refuelled. The 80tonne high level Svitzer Salvage, Maprom Engineering, and Triqua BV.
refuelling crane, which has become a landmark on The Russian Navy currently has a particular interest
the Plymouth skyline, is to be taken down later this in smaller, high-speed coast guard vessels, but there
year and will make way for a new low-level de-fuelling are also opportunities for future cooperation on
facility expected to be operational by 2012, as part of construction of larger vessels, and a broad range of
a £150 million Future Nuclear Facilities investment equipment.
programme at the Submarine Refit Complex (SRC) at
Babcock Marine’s Devonport site. Contract
Babcock Marine Submarines managing director
Roger Hardy said: ‘Refuelling in the SRC has been a
MoD enabling
mainstay of submarine work here at Devonport for 30
contract for UMC
years. The crane removal and replacement with a new
reactor access house marks the end of an era, and the Underwater repair and maintenance specialist UMC
start of another.’ International has been awarded an enabling contract
The successful completion of the refuelling and with the Salvage & Marine Operations IPT/DCS for
achievement of this significant milestone in HMS the provision of diving and ROV underwater survey
Triumph’s LOP(R) will now be followed by flood-up in services for the UK Coastal and Inland waters.
June, steam machinery trials in September, and reactor The contract calls for underwater ROV inspections,
testing at the end of the year. photographic surveys, and limited afloat repairs to be
carried out on MoD afloat and fixed assets throughout
Partnership the UK, with support provided within 24 hours of
Russian Navy meets
notification.
General manager UK operations, Paul Summers
with the Dutch
said: ‘We gained valuable experience in the handling
of ROV technology with our recent participation
From 17 to 21 March 2008, the Royal Netherlands in the mapping and container recovery on Napoli.
Navy was visited by a delegation of Russian Federation Using underwater sidescan sonar technology and
naval staff at Den Helder, against the background of GPS tracking combined with specialist marine data
the bilateral cooperation plan between the countries. software, we were able to pinpoint each potential
As a part of the ‘Focus on Russia’ programme, container, enabling our diving superintendents to fully
several marine equipment suppliers were invited to understand the situation topside before making a safe
meet the Russian delegation during a business lunch. and efficient plan to raise each container, sometimes
The delegation was headed by Rear Admiral Vladimir under some severe weather conditions.’ WT
Warship Technology May 2008 11
WT May 08 - p4+5+6+7+8+10+11.ind11 11 25/04/2008 16:37:07
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