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Heading off nuclear proliferation and protecting the environment: Dismantling Russian nuclear submarines

Background NATO-Russia relations

Developing a road map for dismantling old nuclear attack and cruise missile submarines belonging to Russia’s Pacific fleet was the aim of a NATO-sponsored Advanced Research Workshop held in Vladivostok, from 17 to 18 March. The workshop is part of NATO’s Security through Science Programme.

Efforts to complete the dismantlement of Russian nuclear submarines have emerged as an issue of broader international interest. The G8 Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction, agreed in June 2002, calls for spending 20 billion $ up to 2012 to secure and destroy nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and material in the former Soviet Union.

This includes the nuclear material associated with Russia’s fleet of decommissioned nuclear submarines. While progress has been made in decommissioning and dismantling surplus nuclear submarines from the Russian navy, most progress has been on the fleet of strategic submarines, which are capable of carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Work still remains to be done with regard to general-purpose submarines, i.e. attack and cruise missile submarines. As of May 2003, Russia had 87 decommissioned nuclear submarines stored afloat with nuclear fuel onboard. Of these, 77 are general-purpose submarines, which are no longer seaworthy and continue to degrade thereby increasing the threat of the release of potentially highly radioactive material into the environment.

Additionally, the spent nuclear fuel represents a significant proliferation hazard and a potential tool for terrorist acts using radiological agents. In addition, most of the previous US and European efforts have focused on the Northern fleet, in Murmansk, near Norway, while plans for the dismantlement of the Pacific fleet are much less developed.

The 38 participants to the workshop discussed the scientific, engineering and organisational problems that remain unresolved in dismantling nuclear submarines of the Pacific fleet and considered methods for better coordinating the Pacific fleet and Northern fleet’s dismantlement efforts. Before the workshop, the planning committee visited the Petropavlovsk and Vladivostok submarine facilities in order to share their findings during the workshop’s discussions, which drew on expertise from Russia and other New Independent States, Western Europe, Japan and the US.

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