The radioecological conditions which developed on the territory over the long operating time of the object of the naval fleet in Guba Andreev are described. The results of an analysis of the sources of the real and potential danger and measures to prevent dangerous effects for the environment and the workers at the time remediation work is performed are discussed.The buildings and structures at a temporary disposal site for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes in Guba Andreev (a former technical shore base of the northern fleet) were built at the end of the 1950s -beginning of the 1960s. Since spent fuel was added to the disposal site well before the fuel was shipped out, a large amount of fuel (~100 reactor cores from submarines) and radioactive wastes have accumulated at the site. For more than 40 yr of operation, the buildings and structures were not maintained, so that the states of many storage sites are unsafe [1]. Because the storage sites have become leaky, radioactive substances are flowing into the ground waters on the territory. Melted snow and rain water are gradually expanding the zone of contamination and are carrying radionuclides into the water of Guba Andreev.Determination of the Radioecological State of the Territory and Water Area. Periodic examinations of the buildings, structures, territory, and water area of Guba Andreev were conducted by the radiation safety services of the fleet and by specialists from the Research and Design Institute of Electrical Technology (ground survey) and the Russian Science Center Kurchatov Institute (water area). In 2002-2004, the free financial assistance provided by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Agency made it possible to construct cartograms of the radiation contamination ( Fig. 1) and perform hydrogeological and radiation-geological examinations of a large part of the territory of the disposal site. These measurements differed quantitatively and qualitatively from previous measurements: the number of measurements performed on soil samples was ten times larger than the number performed in preceding years, extensive field investigations made it possible to construct cartograms of the γ-ray field of the territory and water area and to identify the locations of sources of radioactive contamination and determine the radionuclide composition. On the basis of these results, a three-dimensional database containing information on the sources of radioactive contamination of the territory, buildings, and structures was constructed. This database can be used to estimate the real and potential sources of radioecological danger and to plan work on eliminating them.

A survey is made of a former shore-based technological base of the naval fleet, transferred to the Ministry of Atomic Energy for ecological rehabilitation. The main sources of nuclear and radiation danger are determined. It is shown that a spontaneous chain reaction is possible when degraded fuel is removed from water-filled cells. A technology is proposed for safe removal. Combining the confrontational and experimental studies made possible to perform quickly and with small dose expenditures work in radiation and dangerous locations which are difficult to access and make recommendations for decreasing the γ-ray dose rate.At the beginning of the 1960s, naval shore-based technological bases were built in the northwest of our country and in the far east for the purpose of refueling submarine reactors, providing temporary (before shipment to the Mayak Integrated Works) storage of spent nuclear fuel, and receiving and storing solid and liquid radioactive wastes. Over the operating time (more than 40 years), a large quantity of fuel and wastes has accumulated on these bases. They are stored in repositories, some of which leak and are flooded with ground waters.In May 1998, a directive of the Russian government made the Ministry of Atomic Energy the coordinator of the work on comprehensive salvaging of nuclear submarines and rehabilitation of the bases. In 1998-1999, the staff of the Research and Design Institute of Electrical Technology surveyed all four bases and constructed a map of the radiation contamination of the territory, buildings, and structures. The situation was especially serious in the northwest in Guba Andreeva and Bukhta Chervyanaya (Gremikha) [1]. The main problem is the large amount of fuel whose state is unknown. About 100 reactor cores from first-and second-generation nuclear powered submarines and nuclear powered icebreakers (~1.3·10 17 Bq) are located in Guba Andreeva alone; the cores are containers with obsolete construction and in deep cells, most of which are filled with water. The high radiation levels on the open sites containing solid wastes and in fuel repositories and difficulties in accessing the wastes made the process of inventorying them more complicated. Reliable results necessary for developing the design documentation could be obtained only by combining calculations and various types of measurements.The existing problems and ways to solve them will be illustrated for the example of work already performed in Guba Andreeva and Gremikha. The situation in Bukhtas Sysoeva and Krasheninnikova (Kamchatka) is much better with respect to the state of the infrastructure and the possibility of removing fuel for reprocessing.When the submarine reactors were refueled, the spent fuel assemblies were reloaded in jackets and placed in storage on floating bases. Then, the jackets with fuel were off-loaded in Guba Andreeva and placed in holding ponds in building 5. In 1982, a leak was discovered in one of the ponds; the gamma ray dose rate on the outer part of the wall of the building was

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