Russian Subs

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
1187 Coast Village Road, Box 123
Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794

A former nuclear safety inspector in the defense ministry, Alexandr Nikitin raised public alarms over nuclear waste left in the Arctic by submarine accidents and haphazard disposal of spent reactor cores. "If other countries ignore this, Russia will not be the only country to suffer," he said. When one of the retired nuclear submarines begins to leak "everything will go down to the sea and it will be impossible to decontaminate the ocean. It will spread throughout the international fishing areas." His Report warns, "Without international cooperation and financing, a grave situation could arise which can be pictured as a Chernobyl in slow motion." ...

As a consequence of his attempt to help solving Russia's environmental problems, Nikitin is facing trial for high treason and disclosure of state secrets. Nikitin was arrested, jailed for 10 months and confined to St. Petersburg for the past two years. Since then, he says, the secret service has stepped up its KGB-style harassment: repeatedly slashing the tires of his car, demanding film from his wife's camera (who had taken photos of the aggressors), keeping him awake at night with continuous prank phone calls, threatening his lawyers with violence, and more. Within the next few weeks, Nikitin is likely to be tried in secret by a judge and two laymen, who will be chosen by Russia's FSB - the KGB's successor.

At this time, just over 130 nuclear powered submarines have been taken out of service and are laid up. Eighty-eight of them belong to the Northern Fleet; fifty-two still carry nuclear fuel in the reactors. Fifteen reactor compartments have been removed from the hulls and have been prepared for storage. In all probability, around 150 nuclear submarines will be taken out of service with the Russian Navy by the year 2003. Inactive Northern Fleet submarines are laid up at Gremikha, Severodvinsk, Vidyaevo (Olenya Bay, Sayda Bay and the Nerpa yards), Polyarny (Shkval), Sevmorput, Gadzhievo (Ara and Ura Bays) and Zapadnaya Litsa. The dismantling of first and second generation submarines has commenced, whilst the dismantling of third generation vessels is still in the planning stage.