Norwegian monitoring (1990–2015) of the marine environment around the sunken nuclear submarine Komsomolets

Understanding Source Terms of Anthropogenic Uranium in the Arctic Ocean – First 236u and 233u Dataset in Barents Sea Sediments

“…It is very difficult to relate the reactor 236 U input to any local radioactive contamination in the Barents Sea and its surrounding area, e.g., Komsomolets. Though elevated levels of 137 Cs have been reported in seawater collected inside a ventilation pipe of Komsomolets and close to the wreck (collected 1-3 m or so above the ventilation pipe), no significant elevation in 137 Cs concentration in sediments around the wreck has been measured (Gwynn et al, 2018;Skjerdal et al, 2020). No elevated concentrations of Pu isotopes, 241 Am or 238 U have been observed around Komsomolets either (Flo, 2014).…”

The effect of climate change on sources of radionuclides to the marine environment

“…Climate change impacts on objects containing radioactive material sunken or accidentally lost at sea For a discussion of CC impacts on radioactive material from accidents and losses that have already been released into the marine environment (e.g., the accident at Thule (see Box 5)), refer to the relevant section on CC impacts on secondary sources. In other situations, it is difficult to see that the observed and projected CC impacts would have any notable impact either where releases of radionuclides to the marine environment have yet to be observed (e.g., K-159 66 ) or in the case of Komsomolets where releases from the reactor have been ongoing for over 30 years [67][68][69][70] (see Box 5). Nevertheless, as mentioned for dumped waste, the issue of corrosion rates may need to be considered in these situations.…”

“…Releases from the submarine's reactor were detected shortly after it sank in 1989 and as recently as 2019 [67][68][69] . However, monitoring around Komsomolets has shown that the releases have no impact on the overall levels of radionuclides in the Norwegian Sea due to the rapid dilution of the releases in the surrounding water 70,254 . K-159 sank outside of Murmansk Fjord in 2003 whilst being towed for final decommissioning and now lies at a depth of 246 m 66 .…”