The problem of
tinue to do so--have been well documented.6 5
marines often sit for several years in
dock waiting for defueling.7 0Even after
radioactive con-
Radioactive Contamination
fuel removal, some submarines are
tamination in
kept afloat for 1520 years before their
The problem of radioactive contamina-
northwestern
reactors are disposed of. Naval person-
tion in northwestern Russia has been the
nel have to deal with the ever-present
focus of many international and U.S. efforts.
Russia has been
threat of these submarines sinking in
The contamination stems from various inci-
the focus of many
harbor,7 1 as well as problems of securi-
dents and practices, including the following:
ty.7 2 Spent fuel rods are often stored
international and
· Accidents at Sea: Of various documented
onshore or on barges and other vessels.
U.S. efforts.
Storage facilities are full and reprocess-
incidents, perhaps the best known was
ing facilities minimal and aging. The
the sinking of the Komsomolents, a
dangers of decommissioning old or
Mike-class Soviet submarine with
damaged reactors are high, and the age
nuclear-tipped torpedoes and a nuclear
of many of the reactors has turned
pressurized water reactor, in the
Norwegian Sea in 1989.66
them into potential "floating
· Dumping of Nuclear Waste: According to
Chernobyls."73 By the end of this
the Yablokov commission, since 1965
decade, nearly 180 submarine reactors
will be awaiting disposal.74
the USSR had dumped radioactive
waste equivalent to 2.5 million curies
into ocean waters.6 7 One of the major
Key U.S. Initiatives
dumpsites was the sea around Novaya
To counter these problems, the United
Zemlya, two islands off the coast of
States has initiated various projects, including a
northern Russia, but dumping had
joint U.S.-Norwegian-Russian upgrade to the
also occurred in the Barents Sea. Most
Murmansk waste reprocessing facility, a
of the solid waste, including reactor
scheme run by DoE to improve storage and
parts and equipment, was in contain-
security technologies, and the dismantling of
ers, ships, and barges, but the dumped
several Russian ballistic missile submarines by
material also includes 13 nuclear sub-
DoD under the Cooperative Threat Reduction
marines and their reactors (7 of which
program (often referred to as the Nunn-Lugar
still contain their highly radioactive
program, after its initial sponsors, Sens. Sam
spent fuel rods)68 and three reactors
Nunn and Richard Lugar). DoD also partici-
pates in the Arctic Military Environmental
from the icebreaker Lenin, which were
Cooperation forum. The Environmental
dumped in the Kara Sea to the east of
Working Group of the Binational Commis-
Novaya Zemlya. Between 1959 and
sion, where Vice President Gore conducts regu-
1991 liquid waste totaling 23,771
lar meetings with the Russian prime minister to
curies was also dumped into the
Barents, Kara, and White Seas.6 9
discuss technological issues, has dealt frequent-
· Decommissioning of Vessels of the Northern
ly with Arctic environmental problems. One
project resulting from those meetings has been
Fleet: Even before the end of the Cold
a CD-ROM atlas of the Arctic Ocean, which
War, the Soviet Union had started
uses both Russian and U.S. data to paint a pic-
decommissioning older nuclear sub-
ture of Arctic environmental change since 1948.
marines, a process that was accelerated
The CIA and the National Oceanic and
by the easing of political tensions after
Atmospheric Administration are the main U.S.
1991 and the provisions of the START
participants.7 5
I treaty. However, contrary to the
American practice of removing reactor
Some of the projects listed here are
fuel from decommissioned sub-
couched in two forms of rhetoric, which can
marines within one year, Russian sub-
lead to confusion. The nuclear waste storage
15