News
Publish date: August 20, 2003
News
The work is done under the Russia-Norway contracts signed June 30. Presently they are cutting off the deck-house and dismantling the equipment, ITAR-TASS reported. Ultimately, the nuclear submarine K-438 of Victor-I class, factory no.608, will be cut into pieces in the launching dock. Zvezdochka has started disposing the submarine without waiting for the Norwegian cash to reach the shipyard’s bank account. According to the two contracts totalling 10 million euros, Norway is to fund the disposition of two Russian multipurpose nuclear submarines: at Zvezdochka and Nerpa ship repair yard in Murmansk Region. Meanwhile, three more Victor-I class nuclear submarines, project 671, have arrived at Zvezdochka shipyard for cutting. So far, the retired submarines are kept afloat waiting until the financing issue to cut them is settled. The nuclear submarines had been enlisted by the shipyard in the hope that the due finding will be shortly available for disposition of the Russian multipurpose nuclear submarines under joint international programs.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
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.