News
Publish date: April 22, 1998
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
Feeling the squeeze of reduced budgets, the Russian army seeks extraordinary ways of survival. Last year, there were news stories revealing the plans to sell a nuclear powered submarine to a foreign country, earning some 2 billion USD. This year, the Defence Ministry has announced its intentions to use nuclear powered submarines to carry rich tourists to the North Pole.
The existing plans suggest that Typhoon-class submarines are the most suitable for such purposes. Typhoon-class is the biggest submarine in the world, which is able to take onboard some 200 passengers at a time.
On another tack, the initiative of the Defence Ministry contains no innovations. Since 1989, the nuclear powered icebreakers based in Murmansk have been making commercial trips to the North Pole, carrying tourists onboard. The price tag for such a trip amounts to 25,000 USD. The newest nuclear icebreaker Yamal, commissioned in 1993, received a special outfit at the shipbuilding yard to accommodate tourists. In this connection, one can think that the new generation strategic submarine of Borey-class, which is currently under construction in Severodvinsk, will have an extra space for those who are eager to pay big money to be onboard during a sea trile.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.