Russia Launches Second Nuclear Reactor On World’s Strongest Surface Combat Ship

The modernised nuclear battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov now has both of its nuclear reactors online. According to state media and third-party reports from Russia’s defense-industrial complex, the first reactor was activated at the end of December 2024, and the second reactor was physically launched on February 2, 2025.

These steps are said to prove that the entire nuclear power plant is ready to operate in all modes. The reactivation of the reactors is a big milestone in the long modernisation process of the Admiral Nakhimov-a 28,000 ton warship originally launched in 1986 and known as part of the Kirov class (Project 11442), with its modernised version designated Project 11442M.

A source familiar with the matter told the state-run TASS news agency that the physical launch of the reactors confirms that the ship’s power plant is fully operational. TASS reported that factory sea trials with the ship’s launch at sea are expected to begin in the summer of 2025.

Admiral Nakhimov has been undergoing an extensive refit at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea. The modernisation work has been in progress since 2008, with actual repair work starting in 2013 after the ship sat idle for over a decade.

The project was originally expected to be completed by 2018, then delayed to 2019, 2020, and even…

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