Currently, at least 14 collapsing nuclear submarine reactors underwater in the Russian Arctic seas are awaiting disposal, Popular Mechanics said.
The American magazine reminds that the Soviet nuclear submarine (nuclear submarine) K-159 of project 627A “Kit” should be lifted first. The cost of the 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. The incident killed nine people.
