RUSSIA: SEVERODVINSK: NUCLEAR SUBMARINE IS DISMANTLED

(26 Nov 1995) Russian/Nat

Scores of de-commissioned nuclear submarines have been rusting in the port of Severodvinsk in Russia for years, posing a threat to the fragile Arctic environment.

Russia has only two nuclear waste-handling terminals and one train to transport spent fuel to its only processing plant, known as Chelyabinsk-45, in Western Siberia.

APTV has obtained unique pictures of the dismantling of one of Russia's nuclear submarines - starting from the unloading of fuel to the beginning of the long trek back to Chelyabinsk-45.

Once the pride of the Soviet fleet, this nuclear submarine is at the end of its active life and has returned to be dismantled at the shipyard were it was first built.

Its deadly cargo of nuclear waste once posed no problem for the Northern Fleet - it was simply dumped into the sea.

But now Russia is answerable to the ecological demands of the rest of the world it has to dispose of fuel rods more responsibly.

But defence cuts has meant that shortcuts are taken - workers are supplied with little in the way of protection against radiation except a mask and gloves.

They stand perilously close to the fuel rods as they are winched out of the hull of the sub while officers can stay at a safe distance, watching the operation on a close circuit television.

There is little money to ensure even the most basic safety requirements and those workers who haven't been laid off yet haven't been paid in months.

SOUNDBITE:(Russian)
At this moment our crew level is only at half capacity. And each
member of the crew has to do the work of two men.

SUPER CAPTION: Anatoly Lobachenko, Submarine Commander

The nuclear fuel was produced at the once secret facility in Chelyabinsk-45 in Western Siberia. The fuel rods must now make a return journey to source by train - along a potentially hazardous route across half of Russia.

That is why authorities claim that the train, the only one of its kind, is bomb proof and safe from terrorist attacks

SOUNDBITE:
It is the container that is the main element of the safety system because it holds spent fuel. And the containers are absolutely safe and their design is such that nuclear waste can't leak out.

SUPER CAPTION: Mikhail Sharov, Head of nuclear train convoy

As crime and acts of terrorism increase in Russia, so do the chances of the train becoming a target somewhere along its two-thousand kilometre journey to Chelyabinsk-45.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/26d77c0cb5cb5daf8d86295c49a40cf9

Видео RUSSIA: SEVERODVINSK: NUCLEAR SUBMARINE IS DISMANTLED канала AP Archive