News
Publish date: July 22, 1998
Written by: Thomas Nilsen
News
For three years, India leased the Russian Charlie-I class submarine (K-43), the first and only such transaction between two countries. Today India is working with the development of the nuclear-powered attack submarine program, based on the Russian Charlie-I class design. According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, the PWR reactor will use 20% enriched uranium, the same as the 2. generation Russian submarines.
Russian and Indian navy technicians were working in close co-operation during the three years K-43 was based in India. Following the submarines return in 1991, India had planned to acquire four to six nuclear-powered submarines, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union put an end to those plans. Officially the co-operation is halted today, since it would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India recently tested five nuclear bombs.
The first Indian nuclear powered submarine will be laid by 2001/2, two years after the completion of the land tests on its reactor. This will be followed by its launch around 2006/7 and commissioning a year later. This makes India the world’s sixth country to operate nuclear powered submarines, after United Kingdom, China, France, USA and Russia.
An accident aboard numerous Volgoneft oil tankers in the Kerch in mid December clearly show what can happen to aged ships when they are operated in bad weather—and when economic and military objectives are prioritized over the lives of crews and environmental safety.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.