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Greenpeace Vladivostok Report 

 6 November 1991 



In public access areas, the officers said, the levels of radiation are below what is permitted, 

 and no radiation is leaching from the temporary dump site. In spring 1991, as the thaw was 

 starting, the regional Hydromet office took samples around the burial site, and found no 

 radioaaivity in the water. 



The rest of the trace zone will be left to be decontaminated by natural decay of the 

 radiation. The Navy officers estimate that it will take 50 years for the situation to return to 

 normal (ten 5.26 year half-lives of cobalt-60). As for the disposal of the submarine and its 

 reactor, the Navy officers vaguely said it would be disposed of along with the other 

 decommissioned submarines awaiting disposal 



As for the waters surrounding the accident, according to the Navy officers, there is no 

 radiation in them. However, there are still contaminated sediments. In the sediments underneath 

 the submarine at dockside, the August 1991 survey found levels as high as 117 milli- 

 roentgens/hour gamma radiation. The officers admitted radioactivity is spreading outwards into 

 the sediments of Strelok Bay. 



As for long term health effects, the officers said a medical survey of children was done in 

 the settlements of Dunay and Temp. They said it found their health was unaffected by the 

 accident. No information was available on the health of military or civilian workers used in the 

 clean-up. 



C. Doubts about the Navy's reassurances 



A number of factors raise questions about the Navy officers optimistic attitude about the ' 

 effects of the accident Reports about high levels of radiation in the area after the accident, and 

 the extent of the clean-up efforts suggest there is reason to be concerned about the health of 

 military and civilian workers involved in the clean-up. 



A 25 October 1991 TASS account (see attached article), based on a report in Trud, 

 describes extremely high levels of radiation in the area near the submarine. After the accident it 

 was found that "radiation levels during the accident reached 90,000 roentgens per hour,' and 

 those who fought the fire resulting from the explosion or "happened to be neart>y received at 

 least 30 to 40 rems each.' 



An 11 October 1991 report titled 'Evaluation of Radiational Control and Radiological 

 Situation for Shkotovo-22' prepared by Vladivostok region military officers and civilian agencies 

 also describes high levels of radiation in the area in the aftermath of the accident. 



The report says that thirty percent of the territory of Military Division 63971 (which 

 contains the Chazma and the Bolsboi Kamen facilities) was contaminated by the accident. The 

 average dosage in August 1985 was 200 milli-roentgens/hour gamma, and beta radiation was 

 200,000 decays/minute/cm2. Shards of the reactor and fuel in the area had levels of radiation of 

 30-40 roentgens/hour. 



