Such storage site does not exist today, and Bellona underlines that bringing the submarine into a naval yard can pose a radiation threat to the shipyard’s workers, if we are not 100 percent sure everything is ok inside the reactor compartment. To prepare a damaged submarine for decommissioning must of course include a safe plan for taking out spent fuel elements in the reactor cores and a safe storage for the reactor compartment.
Second question is, of course, what to do with the submarine after it is lifted? It might be taken into a floating dry-dock and then shipped to coastal areas at Kola, like the naval yards outside Murmansk or to Severodvinsk shipyards in the White Sea. Should the research conclude that it is safe to raise the submarine, such operation can be done either by using floating cranes in a combination with air-balloons or one of the two methods. In respect to the families of the crewmembers, all rescue attempts must of course include the possibilities to bring out the victims. Russian Navy officials have said they are considering to partly lift Kursk and thug it to more shallow waters (less than 60 meters deep) so Russian divers could do an attempt to take out the victims onboard. If the submarine is taken to surface and something happens to its two reactors, radioactivity could be spread to the atmosphere and by sea currents over a larger area, exposing to radioactivity humans, especially those taking part in the lifting operation.
The lifting operation of the submarine could prove to be a risky operation, if the submarine is so damaged as the present information indicates. In any case such an operation will require international assistance, since Russia has neither required equipment nor experience in this field. If the technical condition is good enough it could be possible to raise the submarine. First of all, to find out how much the hull structure is damaged but also to clarify the technical condition of the two nuclear reactors. Therefor, Bellona highly recommends that before any decisions on what to do with Kursk is taken, thorough investigations of the wreck have to be performed. So far, there are no reports about leakage outside the hull of the submarine. To start a lifting operation before all necessary facts on the wreck’s condition are established might very well increase the danger of radioactivity discharge to the marine environment. Judging on the way Russian officials have handled the rescue operation so far, presenting misleading facts and keeping information secret, Bellona recommends that the risk assessment must be done in a cooperation with a civilian institution in Russia and international experts.
The explosion that hit Kursk might very well have made severe damages to the reactors themselves, the cooling pipelines in the first circuit, or to other important parts of reactor installation.Ī comprehensive analysis of the wreck, and a proper risk assessment may take several months. So far, there is no information about the damages inside the reactor compartment, the compartment is located behind the tower of the submarine. The reactor section of the submarine is flooded with water, so some of the barriers between the seawater and the radioactivity in the reactors are damaged. Just some few tens of kilometers to the west is the famous fishing ground Kildinbanken. Kursk lays on the seabed, at a depth of 108 meters north-east of Murmansk in the Barents Sea, a sea which is one of the most important fishing areas for both Russia and Western Europe.
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