Germany to help Russia scrap its nuke submarines

Germany said yesterday it had agreed to help dismantle part of the Russian navy's rusting fleet of Soviet-era nuclear submarines, many of which have been abandoned near their former bases in the far north of Russia.

Germany will contribute €300 million over the next six years to help dismantle 120 decommissioned submarines that were formerly part of the Soviet Union's Northern Fleet, the Economy Ministry said in a statement.

Russia has already dismantled 40 of the vessels but the submarines' nuclear reactor sections have been left in Saida Bay, on the Kola peninsular in the far northwest.

German officials signed an agreement with their Russian counterparts during a visit to Russia by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to help build a 5.5 hectare storage facility where decommissioned reactors will be held for around 70 years.

Germany will also provide technology to dismantle the remaining 80 nuclear submarines.

"With the submarine-project we are contributing to the fight against the spread of weapons and materials of mass destruction," Economy Ministry state secretary Alfred Tacke said in a statement.

The agreement follows the September sinking of a 40-year-old Russian nuclear-powered submarine and the death of its nine crew as it was being towed across the Barents Sea for scrapping.

Officials said the wreck posed no ecological threat as its reactors had been shut down in 1989, but some environmental activists have said water was likely to seep into the reactors and radiation levels in the area would have to be watched.