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INTERNATIONAL — July 1992 JANE S INTELLIGENCE REVIEW .«« 



A view of the Chazma Bay lacllity reveals the damaged Victor' submarine which exploded on 10 August 198S while refuelling. It is hidden 

 twhind the diesel boat at the dockside with its tail tin just showing on the right. (Photograph: J Handler) 



According to the same officers severaf 

 hundred of ttiousands of cunes were 

 released, including sfiort-lived isotopes 

 A MSS report on 25 Ociober 1991 said 

 tnal radiation meters m the area went off 

 the scale at fatally high levels of 

 600 roenigens/h The fallout from the 

 accident spread for some 6 l<m across 

 the Shkotovo peninsula towards 

 Vladivostok m a band several hundreds 

 metres wide However according to the 

 naval officers the cloud did not reach the 

 '■fy The suDmarine has nol been 

 repaired and was siiil visibfe at the 

 doci<side of the Chazma facility m mid- 

 October 1991 



Addmonal and recent accidents or 

 past problems involving reactors include 

 the K-19 Hotel class SSBN which 

 suffered a primary coolant leak on 4 July 

 1991 (10 men were kilfed) the K-8 

 November class SSN s generator which 

 exploded on 9 September 1961 causing 

 a release of radiation (the crew was 

 hospitalized) the prototype submarine, 

 K-27. which suffered a coolant failure in 

 the liquid-metal cooled reactor causing a 

 maior radiation accident (nine sailors ' 

 killed) The last submarine could not be 

 repaired and il was scullled with its 

 fuelled reactors in Slepovov Bay off 

 Novaya Zemiya 



In addition to the Chazma Bay 

 accident, other radiation incidents at 

 submarine shipyards are now being 

 reported ' A K- 1 1 s reactor was 

 accidently started on 12 February 1965 

 while at the Severodvinsk submarine 

 repair facility Severodvinsk plant officials 

 deny this but Russian press reports claim 

 there was a fire and release of radiation 



In 1970 the K-320 submarine suffered an 

 uncontrolled start up during construction 

 at the submarine building factory 

 Krasnoye Sormovo' m Gorki This 

 resulted m a fire and radioactive release 



There are also contemporary incidents 

 One 1990 report recounted thai when 

 scientists cut open a Pacific Fleet nuclear 

 submarine to study the reactor pipelines 

 they accidentally disturbed a section 

 where radioactive dirf had settled As a 

 result personnel of the radiation safety 

 service spent a month decontaminating 

 the boat " Another radiation incident 

 occurred at Severodvinsk on l 

 November 1991 during an attempt to 

 return radioactive materials to a 

 protective container Eight hours 

 transpired before the incident was 

 contained and the radiation levels 

 returned to normal' A person handling 

 the materials was hospitalized ' 



Recent Russian accounts report thai 

 12 damaged reactors from nuclear 

 submarines were dumped in gulfs 

 around Novaya Zemfya Two were from 

 the K-27 submarine and reactors from 

 the K-19 K-1 1 and the K-3 Leninskii 

 Komsomol were also reportedly dumped 

 between 1964-65 ' Even this tally leaves 

 several serious submarine reactor 

 accidents unaccounted for 



Current Safety Problems 



More information is now becoming 

 available aCxxit recent safety problems 

 on submarines Continuing criticism over 

 the Soviet Navy s safety record after the 

 Mike accident prompted Admiral 



Konstatin Makarov to defend the Navy s 

 recent safety record Without providing 

 specifics, he offered some general 

 statistics on how the rate of most 

 accidents has dropped m the late 1980s 

 compared to the beginning of the 

 decade He did note however there 

 were a greater number of technical 

 incidents involving ships — explosions 

 fires and flooding comprised almost half 

 of accidents The Admiral also said that 

 in 1985-90, 85 per cent of the accidents 

 involving submannes were the result of 

 technical causes He stated that 

 technical causes were responsible for 

 the sinking of the Mike submarine m 

 1989 and the Yankee submarine in 

 1986 He concluded that the mapr 

 cause of technical accidents is the 

 extreme complexity and unsatisfactory 

 reliability of some items of equipment 

 and armament spot cases of poor 

 quality of new ship construction, and, m a 

 number of cases shortcomings in 

 training of service personnel' '" 



Although, Admiral Makarov sought to 

 be reassuring about the safety of Soviet 

 naval vessels, other reports belie his 

 confidence According to other naval 

 officers. 1989 saw one the highest 

 accident rates in the last 20 years for the 

 Soviet Navy . with 45 people killed 

 including those vrho died m the Mike 

 sinking " Another account based on 

 reports from the Chief of Military 

 Procurement during 1986-90. says that 

 1 283 people died because of accidents 

 in the Navy " 



Many compfaints about the lack of 

 firetighting. rescue equipment, and crew 

 emergency training were made in the 



