Deteriorating Submarine Fleet Threatens Nuclear Contamination in Arctic Seas

Back to Map Page September, 1998 Murmansk, Russia In the frigid dark waters of the arctic Russian ports near Murmansk, more than 150 nuclear-powered submarines, some equipped with warheads and nearly all loaded with radioactive materials, are rotting at anchor, threatening to release their radioactive loads into the sea and the air as they deteriorate. Here remnants of Cold War military build-up are colliding perilously with modern economic hard times in Russia. In the best of times, disposing of abandoned war machinery is a daunting task for which governments have difficulty allocating money. And these are far from the best of times in the Russian economy. Lacking money for basic government operations--recently the Russian navy requested donations of potatoes to feed its hungry sailors--the government cannot afford to maintain the rusting subs, much less to disassemble them and safely store the uranium, plutonium and other radioactive materials stored aboard the fleet. So the subs sit in the harbor, threatening the Arctic ocean, and nearby countries such as Norway, with radioactive contamination.   Radioactive waste in Russia's arctic ports threatens neighboring countries and marine life.      Decommissioning the submarines involves removing reactors, spent fuel, and radioactive waste products and shipping them to a processing facility. After reprocessing these materials then need to be contained and placed in long-term storage (where they will be safe, in theory, for tens of thousands of years). Estimated costs for the project run in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The Russian government is reportedly planning to provide only about ten percent of the required funds. The need to deconstruct these subs is as urgent as the costs are high. With an additional 100 subs expected to be decommissioned by next year, there will be between 250 and 300 subs awaiting dismantling by the year 2000. Of the current decommissioned fleet, about 60 percent still have fuel in their reactors--fuel that could leak or produce to uncontrolled fission reactions. Because the government is short of transport and processing equipment, the rate of disassembly was extremely slow a decade ago. Since then it has slowed precipitously (see graph), and this year's economic troubles make further progress look unlikely in the immediate future. Further increasing the difficulty of disposing of the subs is yet another relic of the Cold War: a culture of secrecy in the military and government. Officials have vigorously denied recent accidents and leaks reported by non-government sources, and they have prosecuted two whistle blowers. With little disclosure, evaluating and monitoring the danger is very difficult. Fear of serious radioactive leakage has recently inspired action from Western nations. Leading the way for has been Norway, whose fisheries are directly threatened by potential radioactive leaks. Norway has promised $35 million in clean-up funds. In the Russian Far East, Japan has similarly offered help in processing nuclear waste. Like Norway, Japan would suffer from contaminated fisheries. The United States is now helping to build a waste processing facility near Murmansk. In an ironic turn, Russia has now asked NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) for assistance in cleaning up and processing its military nuclear waste. Such clean-up assistance is costly, but it is something for which NATO countries should be well prepared: like Russia, all the NATO countries face the prospect of processing and storing their own aging military machinery, replete with nuclear and chemical waste products. Click here to see a general map of Russian environmental problem areas. (Source: Central Intelligence Agency. Note: this file is 322k and may download slowly!) For further information, see these related web sites: News reports from Bellona  (the Norwegian organization monitoring Russian Arctic nuclear waste) Arctic nuclear waste, news from the Polar Science Center More news on Arctic nuclear waste Nuclear safety issues in Ukraine and Russia Report on ocean dumping of radioactive materials by Russia, the US, and other countries To read more, see Environmental Science, A Global Concern, Cunningham and Saigo, 5th ed. Managing radioactive waste: pages 480-481 Nuclear power: pages 474-479 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, Ukraine: pages 478-479 Environmental Science, Enger and Smith, 6th ed. Nuclear waste in the former Soviet Union: page 181 Radioactive waste disposal: pages 183-184 Radiation risks: pages 178-180 Nuclear energy: pages 169-175 Back to Map Page feedback form | permissions | international | locate your campus rep | request a review copy digital solutions | publish with us | customer service | mhhe home Copyright ©2001 The McGraw-Hill Companies. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. McGraw-Hill Higher Education is one of the many fine businesses of the The McGraw-Hill Companies.