You know that reactor cooling designs could be different right? The US has many warm-water ports; Their nuclear-powered ships already had to handle that. The S

You know that reactor cooling designs could be different right? The US has many warm-water ports; Their nuclear-powered ships already had to handle that. The Soviets had a single warm-water port and they'd have no need to base their nuclear icebreakers there, so they likely went with a simpler, cheaper design - "дешево и топорно".