"All decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines will be disposed of in 2010, or no later than the start of 2012," he said.  

Nikitin noted that more than 200 of the 250 nuclear submarines constructed in the Soviet Union and later in Russia have so far been scrapped, many with financial support from abroad, such as from Norway, Japan, the United States and the UK.

He said that the programme to dismantle nuclear submarines from the Northern Fleet is almost complete, while the programme to scrap those in the Pacific Fleet has been slower.

Zvezdochka is Russia’s biggest shipyard for repairing and dismantling nuclear-powered submarines, with the capacity to dismantle up to four vessels per year, according to Nikitin.