[ RadSafe ] Raising dangerously radioactive Russian submarines from the bottom of Arctic oceans

[Roger Helbig]

I think that the dangers are dramatically exagerated in this Bellona
article that has been reposted by Nuclear News - am I right?

Roger Helbig

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: nuclear-news <comment-reply at wordpress.com>
Date: Fri, May 15, 2020 at 8:55 PM
Subject: [New post] Raising dangerously radioactive Russian submarines
from the bottom of Arctic oceans



Christina MacPherson posted: " Russia plans to raise radioactive
wrecks in the Arctic
https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2020-05-russia-plans-to-raise-radioactive-wrecks-in-the-arctic
By 2030, the Russian government will raise seven pieces of radioactive
debris – includi"
Respond to this post by replying above this line

New post on nuclear-news

Raising dangerously radioactive Russian submarines from the bottom of
Arctic oceans

by Christina MacPherson

Russia plans to raise radioactive wrecks in the Arctic
https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2020-05-russia-plans-to-raise-radioactive-wrecks-in-the-arctic

By 2030, the Russian government will raise seven pieces of radioactive
debris – including two nuclear submarines – from the bottom of Arctic
oceans, where they were intentionally scuttled during the Soviet era,
documents received by Bellona confirm.

The documents identify this debris as the most dangerous of the items
the Soviet Union discarded in polar waters, and say that six of them
contain more than 90 percent of the radioactivity to be found on the
Arctic seabed.

Of particular importance, the documents say, are the K-159 and K-27
nuclear submarines, the nuclear reactors of which were still full of
nuclear fuel when they went down.

Both submarines, say experts, are in a precarious state. In the case
of the K-27, which was scuttled intentionally in 1982, the sub’s
reactor was sealed with furfural, before it was sunk. But experts say
this seal is eroding. The K-159, which sank while it was being towed
to decommissioning in 2003, poses similar threats. Some 800 kilograms
of spent nuclear fuel remained in its reactor when it went down in
some of the most fertile fishing grounds in the Kara Sea.

In both cases, experts fear that a nuclear chain reaction could occur
should water leak into the submarines’ reactor compartments.

Russian scientists have kept a close eye on the K-159, launching
regular expeditions to monitor for potential radiation leaks.
According to their data, should the submarine depressurize,
radionuclides could spread over hundreds of kilometers, heavily
impacting the local fishing industry.

Anatoly Grigoriev, who heads up the international programs department
of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, says that raising the
wrecks will cost some €123 million.

“Should the K-159 depressurize, it could cause €120 million of damage
per month,” Grigoriev told Bellona at an earlier meeting.

Both submarines, say experts, are in a precarious state. In the case
of the K-27, which was scuttled intentionally in 1982, the sub’s
reactor was sealed with furfural, before it was sunk. But experts say
this seal is eroding. The K-159, which sank while it was being towed
to decommissioning in 2003, poses similar threats. Some 800 kilograms
of spent nuclear fuel remained in its reactor when it went down in
some of the most fertile fishing grounds in the Kara Sea.

In both cases, experts fear that a nuclear chain reaction could occur
should water leak into the submarines’ reactor compartments.

Russian scientists have kept a close eye on the K-159, launching
regular expeditions to monitor for potential radiation leaks.
According to their data, should the submarine depressurize,
radionuclides could spread over hundreds of kilometers, heavily
impacting the local fishing industry.

The majority of this debris was left in the eastern bays of the Kara
Sea near the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago. Still, the exact location of
some of these sunken objects is still unknown. The whereabouts of the
reactor compartment from the K-140 nuclear submarine remains
unaccounted for.

And there are other radiation hazards that are farther afield. The
K-278, or Komsomolets, nuclear submarine lies at the bottom of the
Norwegian Sea.

“A quarter of all the radioactive waste that has been sunk in the
oceans belongs to us,” says Sergei Antipov, director of strategic
planning and project management at the Nuclear Safety Institute of the
Russian Academy of Sciences.

Since the early 2000s, massive projects to decommission Soviet-era
nuclear submarines have been ongoing with the assistance of numerous
western partners. Moscow has shared information about these
radioactive hazards with nations of the G-7 and has worked with the
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and other donors.

This international cooperation has brought significant results.
Military bases have been cleared of most radioactive contamination and
nearly 200 rusted-out nuclear submarines have been safely dismantled,
as a review of the last 25 years of Bellona’s work clearly shows.

Russia, moreover, has the necessary infrastructure to deal with
whatever discarded radiation hazards are brought to the surface of
Arctic waters. And while Russia lacks the necessary vessels for such
undersea rescues, the international partners it has developed while
cleaning up other pieces of the Soviet nuclear legacy certainly do.

Next year, Russia assumes the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic
Council, and we hope that Moscow will be able to announce upon the
first meeting that these projects are underway. Bellona, which is
already involved in discussing this important work, has high hopes.

Christina MacPherson | May 16, 2020 at 3:55 am | Categories: ARCTIC,
Russia, wastes, weapons and war | URL: https://wp.me/phgse-FQq