Nuclear Submarine Decommissioning and Related Problems

The end of the Cold War has led to an acceleration in the decommissioning of the world's nuclear submarine fleet. Russian vessels, in particular, are being taken rapidly out of service and this surge of vessels has in many cases far exceeded the capacity of the available decommissioning facilities in Russia. Severe problems exist in areas such as the storage of submarines awaiting defuelling, storage and transport of spent nuclear fuel, the handling of radioactive wastes, and the dismantling and disposal of major submarine components. The magnitude and complexity of such problems, many of them revealed here to the public for the first time, are laid bare in some detail, with a discussion of the associated environmental impact, especially in the Arctic and the western Pacific. Solutions to these problems are proposed.