Currently, at least 14 collapsing nuclear submarine reactors underwater in the Russian Arctic seas are awaiting disposal, Popular Mechanics says.
The American magazine reminds that the first to be lifted is the Soviet nuclear submarine K-159 of Project 627A “Kit”. The cost of work involving the disposal of the six most dangerous nuclear reactors from this and other submarines is estimated at $ 300 million.
The publication claims that a special ship is needed to raise the nuclear submarine, the creation of which Russia plans to complete in 2026. “Now, to avoid underwater Chernobyl, the Russians are starting a terrible race against the relentlessly progressive decay,” concludes Popular Mechanics.
In July 2019, the Norwegian edition of The Barents Observer reported that the hull in front of the K-278 Komsomolets Soviet nuclear submarine of Project 685 Plavnik sunk in the Norwegian Sea was damaged.
K-159 is located at a depth of 248 meters in the Barents Sea north of the Kola Bay in the fishing grounds. A corroded Soviet submarine on August 30, 2003, allegedly due to a storm, drowned on the way of being towed from a settling tank in the closed town of Ostrovnoy (Murmansk region) for scheduled disposal to the city of military glory Polyarny. Nine people died in the incident.