August
31, 2003
Russia orders halt to towing derelict nuclear subs after sinking
that killed 9
MOSCOW
(AP) -- Russia's defence minister blamed the sinking of a derelict
nuclear submarine on a national trait of carelessness and ordered a
temporary halt Sunday to the towing of decommissioned subs.
The announcement raised the prospect of further delays in efforts
to dispose of more than 100 rotting ships and their reactors, which have
been a concern to environmentalists.
The K-159 submarine sank Saturday in the Barents Sea as it was
being towed to an Arctic scrapyard where its reactors were to be removed
and dismantled. Nine of the 10 sailors aboard died.
"There were definitely elements of this frivolous Russian
reliance on chance, that everything will work out," Defence
Minister Sergei Ivanov said from a ship monitoring search operations.
The sub went down in a storm, apparently after rough seas ripped
off the pontoons that had been attached to it for towing.
Russian news reports cited unidentified navy sources as suggesting
the pontoons had been placed improperly and Ivanov said the submarine
went to the bottom with its conning tower open.
"This confirms yet again the simple truth that all
instructions and orders must be taken seriously," he said.
Later, after meeting with surviving sailor Lieut. Maxim Tsibulsky
and families of the dead sailors, he said, "I have made a decision
to ban the towing of such submarines to scrapyards in such a manner
until further notice," according to the Interfax news agency.
However, Ivanov also said the men aboard the K-159 were not to
blame.
"There are no complaints against you ... you were only a
witness," Ivanov said in a televised meeting with Tsibulsky, who
lay in a Northern Fleet hospital bed appearing healthy but exhausted.
Environmentalists have suggested officials were playing down the
danger of contamination in the fish-rich waters, but Ivanov said
radiation levels were normal.
He said the submarine will be raised from the 240-metre seabed,
but preparations could take several months.
Russia has decommissioned about 189 nuclear-powered submarines
over the past 15 years, but officials say 126 of those still are at
docks with nuclear fuel in their reactors, creating international
concern about leaks and the possibility of nuclear materials being
obtained by other nations or terrorists.
It will cost an estimated $5.4 billion Cdn to scrap all the subs,
Russian officials say. Yet last year, the Russian government budgeted
just $97 million for improving nuclear safety in the country as a whole.
Ivanov's apparent frustration with procedure violations in the
towing echoed the reaction of President Vladimir Putin, who said
Saturday "the sea demands discipline."
The ship's reactors were reportedly shut down when it was taken
out of service, but environmentalist Alexander Nikitin, a former Russian
navy captain, said Saturday that the risk of a leak was high. He
criticized the navy for choosing the "cheapest and worst
option" by not removing the reactors before towing the boat to the
dismantling point.
The submarine sank a few kilometres northwest of Kildin Island off
the Kola Peninsula, where Russia abuts Norway and Finland.
That is the same general area where the nuclear submarine Kursk,
one of Russia's most sophisticated ships, sank almost exactly three
years ago after being torn apart by two explosions while on manoeuvres,
killing all 118 aboard.
