Sunday, September 16, 2012

Russia unveals huge sea nuclear dump

(CC by NormanEinstein)
A nuclear submarine (the K-27) with spent fuel in both reactors, 14 nuclear reactors, some of them with fuel, 19 ships containing radioactive waste, 17,000 containers full of radioactive waste, 735 other pieces of radioactively contaminated machinery. 

All that and maybe more was dumped in the Kara Sea, a subdivision of the Arctic Ocean bordering Nenets lands. The data has been revealed to Norwegian environmentalist NGO Bellona by Russian authorities in the last two years and now published by Norwegian media. 

Bellona has been tracking the case since 1992 and praised the openness of the Russian government. Meanwhile the Norwegian nuclear authorities suspect that this may not be all because Russia has been generally reluctant to reveal this massive environmental crime, revealing the data only gradually.

There is concern that the reactors of the K-27 could achieve recriticality but of course the greatest concern is radioactive contamination of the Arctic. 

Source: Bellona (via EneNews).

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