decommissioned russian nuke subs pose risk- AP story

[Norman Cohen <ncohen12@comcast.net>]

>

> Health & Science: Decommissioned nuclear subs pose risk, Russian

> lawmaker says

>

> By MARA D. BELLABY, Associated Press

>

> MOSCOW (March 1, 2002 9:37 a.m. EST) - More than half of the Russian

> Pacific Fleet's 75 decommissioned nuclear submarines are stranded in

> harbors waiting for nuclear fuel to be unloaded from their reactors,

> raising the risk of a nuclear accident, a lawmaker said in an

> interview published Friday.

>

> "The Russian Far East and bordering states are under threat of a

> nuclear catastrophe every minute," Boris Reznik, a State Duma member,

> was quoted as saying in a front-page interview in the Russian daily

> Izvestia. "But the military doesn't let in the inspectors under the

> guise of military secrecy."

>

> According to Reznik, who said he did his own research, the greatest

> source of danger is from the decommissioned submarine PM-32, which he

> said was used as a provisional storage facility for spent nuclear fuel

> from other submarines.

>

> "It has 126 defect channels through which radiation is continually

> leaking into the sea," he was quoted as saying.

>

> Russian officials have repeatedly denied such allegations and contend

> that the risk of a nuclear accident is extremely slight.

>

> "We are doing everything to minimize the possibility of radiation

> accidents, such as leaks," Viktor Akhunov, an Atomic Energy official

> in charge of submarine disposal, was quoted as telling Izvestia.

>

> Russia's Nuclear Power Ministry said in December that the Russian Navy

> had decommissioned a total of 189 nuclear submarines but 126 were

> still waiting to be scrapped. Reznik told Izvestia that the Pacific

> Fleet decommissioned 75 submarines but 45 still had fuel in their

> reactors.

>

> Environmental groups have repeatedly criticized the deteriorating

> condition of the decommissioned submarines, some of which have sat

> dockside for as long as 15 years with fuel aboard and their hulls

> rusting through.

>

> Some European Union nations have offered to help Russia build waste

> storage facilities to speed up the dismantling, but Russian officials

> bristle at giving European experts unlimited access to naval

> facilities.

>

> Akhunov acknowledged that if more money was available, the

> decommissioning work, which is expected to be completed in about six

> years, could be done sooner.

>

> This year, navy experts are expected to unload spent nuclear fuel from

> 20 nuclear submarines and completely dismantle 17. The wrecked Kursk

> submarine is to be among those dismantled this year. The Kursk sank

> during naval maneuvers in August 2000, killing its entire 118-man

> crew, and was hoisted from the Barents Sea bottom last October.

>

> Russian officials said it takes about two years to completely dispose

> of a nuclear submarine, cutting its hull and removing the nuclear

> reactor.

>

> Russian military journalist Grigory Pasko had frequently reported on

> the Pacific Fleet's decommissioned submarines and the navy's alleged

> dumping of radioactive waste. He was convicted of treason in December

> for possessing information on the fleet that prosecutors said he

> planned to hand over to Japanese media.

>

>

>

>

>

>

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