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When the planned nine submarines are cut up during the year, the total number of decommissioned Russian nuclear powered submarines will reach 186, reports Izvestia with reference to Russia's state nuclear body Rosatom. Last year, 15 nuclear powered submarines were decommissioned, and for next year it is planned to utilise another 10 submarines. Most of the nuclear powered submarines are decommissioned at the naval yard Zvezdotchka in Severodvinsk, but also Nerpa on the Kola Peninsula and other naval yards in Russia's Pacific region are scrapping older submarines.

Russia may prioritize the development of nuclear-powered attack submarines armed with nuclear-capable cruise missiles in the future, while maintaining its fleet of strategic subs, a senior Navy official said. The Russian Navy maintains a fleet of about 60 submarines, including 10 nuclear-powered strategic submarines, over 30 nuclear-powered attack submarines, diesel-electric submarines and special-purpose subs. "Probably, tactical nuclear weapons [on submarines] will play a key role in the future," Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev, deputy head of the Navy General Staff, told RIA Novosti. "Their range and precision are gradually increasing."

The collision of two strategic nuclear submarines earlier this month shows that the Cold War is still being fought every day in the Atlantic -- with the world's most powerful weapons. The British submarine HMS Vanguard (left) and French submarine Le The British submarine HMS Vanguard (left) and French submarine Le Triomphant (right): One of these vessels alone can carry nuclear warheads with a combined power more than 300 times greater than the atom bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The world is a good and beautiful place, and on the Mull of Kintyre, it seems as peaceful as Paul McCartney described it in his 1970s megahit. Sheep graze on the hills of this peninsula in southwestern Scotland, and the valleys are filled with the scents coming from small distilleries that produce some of Scotland's best whiskey.

Critics round on ministry's 'scandalous' safety record after admission to nine nuclear submarine leaks in past 12 years Radioactive waste has leaked from Britain's nuclear submarines nine times in the past 12 years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted. Two of the leaks - including one at Devonport near Plymouth two months ago - had not been revealed until today. Confirmation of the leaks raises new questions about the MoD's safety record, which has been coming under increasing scrutiny since HMS Vanguard, a British submarine armed with Trident nuclear missiles, collided with a nuclear-armed French submarine, Le Triomphant, under the Atlantic in February.

Dozens of crewmen were fast asleep on a nuclear submarine when freezing Freon gas poured over them from a firefighting system, survivors said Tuesday in the first eyewitness accounts of the Russian submarine accident that killed 20 people. The Nerpa submarine was undergoing sea trials Saturday in the Sea of Japan when its fire-extinguishing system switched on, spewing liquefied Freon gas that asphyxiated the victims and sent 21 others to the hospital. The submarine returned to its home port under its own power Sunday.

The Royal Navy is to drop a dangerous type of reactor used in its existing nuclear submarines because it fails to meet modern safety standards, defence ministers have disclosed. A safer type of reactor is expected to be used in the submarines that will replace the Trident fleet, as the existing design shares very similar features to the nuclear reactors involved in the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan. Liam Fox, the defence secretary, told MPs there was a "very clear-cut" case to use the new type of reactor because it has "improved nuclear safety" and would give "a better safety outlook". A heavily censored Ministry of Defence report disclosed earlier this month by the Guardian and Channel 4 News said the current reactors are "potentially vulnerable" to fatal accidents, which could cause "multiple fatalities" among submarine crews.

Two-thirds of the Navy's new Virginia-class submarines initially will be based at Pearl Harbor, making Hawai'i the main hub for the advanced attack submarines, Navy officials said yesterday. Advertisement The Navy plans to build 30 of the nuclear submarines, which cost up to $2.5 billion apiece, carry torpedoes and missiles, and can drop off commandos close to shore. The Navy isn't releasing the exact number or arrival schedule for subs coming to Pearl Harbor beyond the USS Hawaii, expected in late June, and the USS Texas, scheduled to arrive in late October or early November.

40 year old rusty spent nuclear fuel containers from Russia's abounded submarine base Gremikha were shipped to Murmansk this week. The voyage from Gremikha to Murmansk normally takes one day. This is the same route as the Russian retired submarine K-159 took when it sank northeast of the inlet to the Kola Bay in August 2003. The vessel which is sailing with the highly radioactive spent fuel this week is the 35 year old Serebryanka. The rusty spent nuclear fuel containers have been stored outdoor at Gremikha for 40 years, posing a grave radiation threat. They contain uranium fuel from some of the Soviet Union's first nuclear powered submarines, at that time were based at Gremikha. The submarines reloaded their deadly radioactive spent fuel to the onshore open-air storage site.

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after hundreds of litres of radioactive coolant spilled from a Devonport-based nuclear submarine. The liquid escaped into the River Tamar after an incident involving HMS Trafalgar. The Royal Navy has confirmed up to 280 litres of water, likely to have been contaminated with tritium, poured from a burst hose as it was being pumped from the submarine in the early hours of Friday. The submarine was alongside at Devonport, after undergoing routine maintenance.

Japan lodged a protest with the United States after an American nuclear submarine made an unannounced visit in southern Japan, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The USS Providence arrived in the White Beach Naval Facility on the southern island of Okinawa on Monday without prior notice, a requirement under a bilateral agreement, and stayed there for two hours, the ministry said. "It is extremely regrettable that a U.S. submarine visited one of our ports without proper advance notice," the ministry said in a statement. "The United States must notify our government at least 24 hours before its nuclear submarines visit our ports."

Nuclear submarines from Britain and France collided deep in the Atlantic Ocean this month, authorities said Monday in the first acknowledgment of a highly unusual accident that one expert called the gravest in nearly a decade. Officials said the low-speed crash did not damage the vessels' nuclear reactors or missiles or cause radiation to leak. But anti-nuclear groups said it was still a frightening reminder of the risks posed by submarines prowling the oceans powered by radioactive material and bristling with nuclear weapons. The first public indication of a mishap came when France reported in a little-noticed Feb. 6 statement that one of its submarine had struck a submerged object - perhaps a shipping container. But confirmation of the accident only came after British media reported it.

A Russian nuclear submarine in which 20 people died after a toxic gas accident will be leased to India later this year, a Russian defence official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "On June 20 the vessel should finish all its tests. We are planning to hand the nuclear submarine over to India by the end of this year," Deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Popovkin said, quoted by Interfax news agency. Popovkin was referring to the the Nerpa, an Akula-class attack submarine that was the site of the one of the Russian navy's worst tragedies in recent years, Interfax reported.

"London : Europe's largest single issue peace organisation is warning the British government against plans to use a naval dockyard base as a centre for dismantling radioactive submarines. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has voiced concern about the safety record of Devonport dockyard in south-west England and its position in the middle of Plymouth city as being inappropriate site as a 'nuclear dumping ground.' "A city-centre location is no place to cut-up and store redundant nuclear submarines," said CND chair Kate Hudson. "The toxic legacy of these subs is a real problem, but dismantling them on a site literally a couple of hundred metres from homes and schools must not be allowed," Hudson said. "The health risks posed by a project that could continue for 60 years or more are potentially enormous, with Devonport already having a troubled history of radioactive leaks," she warned. The dockyard is already home to eight ageing nuclear submarines and plans are for another 27 to be sent there, prompting fears that one of the country's busiest naval ports is set to be turned into a nuclear scrapyard. "

The Zvezdochka shipyard in northern Russia said on Friday that a recent minor radioactive leak at its storage facility posed no threat to people or environment. According to a Zvezdochka statement, the "radiation incident" took place on Thursday when about two cubic meters liquid radioactive waste leaked through a seam in a pipe connecting a storage tank and a waste treatment facility. "The pipe itself is located in a leak-proof tunnel and the waste did not spill outside," the statement said, adding that the tunnel has been drained of the waste in two hours following the leak. "The radiation levels around the tunnel are normal. The causes of the leak are being investigated," the shipyard said. Severodvinsk-based Zvezdochka is Russia's biggest shipyard for repairing and dismantling nuclear-powered submarines. It has the capacity to scrap up to four nuclear submarines per year.

The Zvezdochka shipyard in northern Russia said on Friday that a recent minor radioactive leak at its storage facility posed no threat to people or environment. According to a Zvezdochka statement, the "radiation incident" took place on Thursday when about two cubic meters liquid radioactive waste leaked through a seam in a pipe connecting a storage tank and a waste treatment facility. "The pipe itself is located in a leak-proof tunnel and the waste did not spill outside," the statement said, adding that the tunnel has been drained of the waste in two hours following the leak. "The radiation levels around the tunnel are normal. The causes of the leak are being investigated," the shipyard said. Severodvinsk-based Zvezdochka is Russia's biggest shipyard for repairing and dismantling nuclear-powered submarines. It has the capacity to scrap up to four nuclear submarines per year.

CAMPAIGNERS protesting against possible plans to scrap nuclear submarines at Devonport Dockyard descended on the city for an organised protest at the weekend. Around 300 people turned out in support of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament who believe that Plymouth will be turned into a dumping ground for nuclear submarines. The rally began with a march through the city centre before speeches outside the Guildhall. The group then travelled to Devonport Park before a protest march along the dockyard wall, finishing at the site's Camels Head entrance.

CAMPAIGNERS protesting against possible plans to scrap nuclear submarines at Devonport Dockyard descended on the city for an organised protest at the weekend. Around 300 people turned out in support of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament who believe that Plymouth will be turned into a dumping ground for nuclear submarines. The rally began with a march through the city centre before speeches outside the Guildhall. The group then travelled to Devonport Park before a protest march along the dockyard wall, finishing at the site's Camels Head entrance.

The fire safety system on a brand-new Russian nuclear submarine accidentally turned on as the sub was being tested in the Sea of Japan, spewing a gas that suffocated 20 people and sent 21 others to the hospital, officials said Sunday. The Russian Navy said the submarine itself was not damaged in Saturday's accident and returned to its base on Russia's Pacific coast under its own power Sunday. The accident also did not pose any radiation danger, the navy said.

At least 20 people have died in an accident on a Russian nuclear submarine when a fire extinguishing system was activated by mistake. Russian Pacific Fleet spokesman Igor Dygalo said both sailors and shipyard workers died in the accident, which occurred during sea trials. The dead were suffocated by freon gas, which is used to put out fires as it removes oxygen from the air.

Hundreds of litres of potentially radioactive liquid leaked into a river after an incident involving a nuclear submarine, it emerged today. The Royal Navy, which quarantined the area, admitted that 280 litres of possibly toxic coolant water escaped from a burst hose after being pumped from HMS Trafalgar. The liquid, which cools a nuclear reactor, is likely to have been contaminated by tritium, an unstable form of hydrogen that glows in the dark and is used to create the luminous glow on watch dials.

A Russian sailor has been charged for causing an accident where 20 people were gassed to death on a nuclear submarine in the country's worst tragedy since the 2000 Kursk disaster, officials said on Thursday. "The suspect is one of the sailors of the crew, who for no reason set off the fire extinguishing system, as a result of which 20 people died and 21 were hospitalized," investigator Vladimir Markin told Vesti-24 television. "This sailor has already testified to his guilt," said Markin, a spokesman for investigators probing Saturday's accident about the Nerpa submarine, which raised new doubts about the safety of Russian military hardware.

ST. PETERSBURG - Fifteen years ago, in March of 1994, a report was published which, in essence, saved the Arctic region from a nuclear catastrophe. The report by the then little-known Bellona Foundation uncovered the secrets that were for decades hidden by Soviet authorities, and later, the Russian military. Bellona, 18/03-2009 - Translated by Charles Digges The subject of the secret was some 150 decommissioned nuclear submarines languishing at dockside at the ports of the Russian Northern Fleet with their spent nuclear fuel still on board. These cast-off submarines were rusting and their terrifying cargo of spent nuclear fuel could well have ended up in the waters of the Barents and White Seas at any moment. The successor of the USSR - the Democratic Russia - had no money to devote to their dismantlement.