News
Publish date: March 6, 2003
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
A Sierra I attack class submarine, K-336, or Pskov, suffered a fire on March 5th. The submarine was in the dry dock at Roslyakovo shipyard, situated between the city of Murmansk and Severomorsk, the home base of the Northern Fleet, on the Kola Peninsula.
Fire crews called to the shipyard managed to put the fire out in one and half hours, Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but it may be possible that the welding works ignited the wood scaffolding surrounding the submarine.
A similar incident took place in October last year when an Echo II submarine was undergoing decommissioning at Sevmorput shipyard, located in the north of Murmansk. The fire also started on the wood scaffolding in the dry dock surrounding the submarine, and then spread to the rubber coating of the submarine.
The Soviet Union built four Sierra I class attack class submarines, or SSNs. The fifth submarine, which would be a Sierra II class, was decommissioned at the staples in 1993. The Pskov, which entered service in 1993, is the newest nuclear-powered Sierra I class submarine. The first Sierra class submarine, K-239, retired from service in 1998. The two remaining submarines allegedly remain in service. Sierra class submarines are equipped with one PWR reactor and titanium hull.
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.