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No leakages from wreaked nuclear sub

Per Strand (right) says there is no immediate danger of radiation leakages from K-159. Here together with Igor Shumako from Roshydromet.

The sunken Russian submarine is located on the seabed with 800 kilos of spent uranium fuel in one of the most important fishing areas in the Barents Sea.

Location

The joint Norwegian-Russian expedition could, after a two months delay, finally sail towards the sunken submarine in late August. Analyzing the first samples; the researchers conclude that there are no leakages, for now.

K-159, an old retired November class submarine belonging to Russia’s Northern fleet, sank while under tow from the abounded naval base of Gremikha towards a yard outside Murmansk for scrapping on August 30 2003. Nine of the crew members died.

With two nuclear reactors onboard, both containing the spent nuclear fuel rods, authorities in Russia and neighboring Norway have voiced concern. Laying on the seafloor outside the Kildin Island, the radiation poses a potential threat to the marine diversity in the area, including the important stocks of Barents Sea cod.

The final result of the expedition will be published next year. In the meantime, the researchers from Norway’s Institute of Marine Research and the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authorities talk down the concern of leakages.

“This expedition was important to get good knowledge about the environmental conditions in the area. Based on the results, we can consider which measures to be taken later to avoid pollution,” says Per Strand with the Norwegian Radiation Authorities.

Russian participants in the expedition was Roshydromet, and the boat, “Ivan Petrov” is the same that over the last few years has been used on expeditions to dump sites for nuclear waste and abounded submarine reactors in the Kara Sea, east of Russia’s Arctic Island of Novaya Zemlya.

The expedition was financed by Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.