Russia has sent an expedition to survey radioactivity levels at the wreckage of a Soviet nuclear submarine which sank in the Norwegian Sea three decades ago, the country's meteorological service said Wednesday.

Equipped with a nuclear reactor and two nuclear warheads, the Komsomolets submersible caught fire in April 1989 as a result of a short circuit while in international waters 500 kilometres (310 miles) from Norway.

Its crew was unable to put out the fire, leaving the nuclear vessel to sink and killing 42 people in one of the world's worst submarine disasters.

The wreckage has since been kept under close monitoring, with Russian investigators reporting in the early 1990s and 2007 that it was leaking radiation.

A joint Russian-Norwegian expedition in 2019 found the submarine was leaking radiation up to 800,000 times above normal levels, though Norway said the pollution had little impact on its fish and seafood.

In a statement Wednesday, the Roshydromet environmental monitoring agency said a new expedition had departed a day earlier from the city of Arkhangelsk in Russia's northwest carrying a group of scientists.

"The main goal of the expedition is to collect data on the state of the marine environment to assess the possible consequences of its contamination with radioactive products from the nuclear submarine," Roshydromet said.

The environment monitor said the team will take samples of water, seabed sediment and radioactive aerosols near the carcass of the damaged submarine, which sits at a depth of 1,027 metres (3,370 feet).

The expedition will return to Arkhangelsk on June 5.

At the time, the Komsomolets accident raised fears of another Chernobyl, after an explosion at a nuclear reactor in the ex-Soviet Ukraine city caused the world's worst nuclear accident three years earlier.

Russia has also seen nuclear accidents in recent years.

A month after the joint Russian-Norwegian expedition examined Komsomolets in 2019, a blast at a missile test site near Arkhangelsk killed five people and caused a spike in radiation levels.

Related Links
Naval Warfare in the 21st Century

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Chinese Navy to help Indonesia salvage sunken submarine
Jakarta (AFP) May 4, 2021
Chinese navy ships have arrived off Bali to help haul up a submarine that sank last month killing 53 crew, the Indonesian Navy said Tuesday as it geared up for a deep-sea salvage operation. The help arrived after other foreign ships from Australia, Singapore and Malaysia left the archipelago, having assisted Indonesian authorities in finding the stricken vessel. The KRI Nanggala 402 - one of five submarines in Indonesia's fleet - disappeared last month while it was scheduled to take part in li ... read more