Six damaged cruise missiles are filled with special solution and will be unloaded during decommissioning.
16 cruise missiles were unloaded from Kursk. The remaining six missiles of Granit type will be unloaded at the Nerpa shipyard in Snezhnogorsk, Murmansk region. According to the Northern fleet press secretary, Vladimir Navrotsky, this decision has been made due to severe damages of the missile tubes after powerful explosion onboard the Kursk. The missiles should be cut out together with the tubes.
Before transporting the Kursk to the shipyard all the wholes and openings should be plugged and welded.
The shipyard Nerpa in Snezhnogorsk has all the necessary equipment for decommissioning and missiles extraction. Missiles shafts are filled with special foamed polyurethane now in order to fix the missiles position during transportation to the shipyard, the missiles are safe for transportation, Navrotsky said.
The second compartment contains a lot of explosives
While cleaning the debris in the second compartment the investigators found big quantities of the explosives, equal to 150 kg of trotyl. They are the parts of unexploded missiles, which were thrown from the first compartment by the explosion.
The explosives were taken away by the specialists and terminated.
It was decided to work in the second compartment only during day light to minimise the risk for the investigators, who work there. They believe, it will take 3-4 months to clean all the debris on the submarine.
