Fire on Russian nuclear submarine 'under control'

Pol.dk / Ritzau flames

From a scaffold spread late Thursday night at a Russian nuclear submarine, which was docked in Murmansk. Norwegians fear radiation.

By Christian Østergaard, Friday 30th December 2011 pm. 07:02

Nine people were injured during a fire at a nuclear submarine that is docked at a Russian shipyard. No one is dead after the fire, said the Russian authorities told Reuters. "The fire was localized and under control," said the Russian emergencies minister, Sergei Shoigu, according to Ritzau tonight. His opinion does not correspond to whether there is still fire in the submarine. Dry Dock was else late Thursday night filled with water to douse the flames. The fire is a concern on the other side of the border with Norway, which lies very close to the shipyard in Murmansk. "We have sent people to the area, and we constantly measure the radiation," says Per Strand, department director of preparedness and the environment at the National Radiation Protection in Norway to Ritzau. The Norwegian concern because the submarine is now taking water into the crew accommodation on board, why Norwegians fear that there is also water entering the reactor room. The fire aboard the submarine spread to the submarine's hull from a træstillads that was used for the repair of the submarine. The burned submarine is of type K-84 and was built in 1984. It can accommodate up to 16 intercontinental missiles.

Russian Minister: Fire at nuclear submarine is under control
The Norwegian authorities are following the situation closely.

A rescue crew has gained control of over 10 meters high flames that have devastated a Russian nuclear submarine in northern Russia and created fears of radioactive releases.
It said the Russian authorities, according to Reuters. Nine people will be injured in the accident.
"The fire was localized and under control," said the Russian emergencies minister, Sergei Shoigu, at night - more than nine hours after the fire broke out
He is leading the rescue efforts from a control room in Moscow. His statement suggests that it still burns, but that now control the situation.
The flames arose in træstilads
Late Thursday night began the Russian authorities to fill the dry dock with water to get rid of the flames, and the enterprise has the words itself says succeeded.
The submarine was in dock at the shipyard in Murmansk for repairs when the fire broke out.
The fire broke out after a break in security routines, and the flames must have occurred in a træstillads, and from there they spread to the rest of the submarine.
"The fire then spread to the outer parts of the hull," said a spokesman for the Russian fleet to the Interfax news agency.
Concern in Norway
Plant in Murmansk is located near the border with Norway, and the accident worries Nils Bohemia, which is nuclear physicist and member of environmental group Bellona.
For when the submarine is now taking water into the crew room, there is a risk that water gets into the reactor room, he told the Norwegian news agency NTB.
Thus follows the Norwegian authorities also the situation closely.
"We have sent people to the area, and we constantly measure the radiation," says Per Strand, department director of preparedness and the environment at the National Radiation Protection in Norway.
118 sailors killed on nuclear submarine in 2000
The boat is of type K-84 and was built in 1984 and can accommodate up to 16 intercontinental missiles.
Russia's northern fleet was in August 2000 suffered a very serious accident. 118 seamen perished when the Kursk nuclear submarine caught fire and exploded at sea.