Radiation conditions near the sunken submarine “Komsomolets”

Gladkov, G. A.; Sivintsev, Yu. V.

doi:10.1007/bf02410284

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…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.…”

Section: Review Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, environmental investigations at the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion wreck sites concluded that there had been no discernible effect on the ambient levels of radioactivity 253 . Of the remaining two submarines, releases of radionuclides have only been observed from Komsomolets (K-278), which lies in the Norwegian Sea at a depth of 1700 m. The estimated reactor inventory in 2020 would have decreased to ~3 PBq, but with a further 16 TBq of plutonium in the two nuclear warheads housed within the torpedo compartment 67,69 . Releases from the submarine's reactor were detected shortly after it sank in 1989 and as recently as 2019 [67][68][69] .…”

Section: Historic Contamination From Previous Discharges From Nonnucl...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of the remaining two submarines, releases of radionuclides have only been observed from Komsomolets (K-278), which lies in the Norwegian Sea at a depth of 1700 m. The estimated reactor inventory in 2020 would have decreased to ~3 PBq, but with a further 16 TBq of plutonium in the two nuclear warheads housed within the torpedo compartment 67,69 . 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 .…”

Section: Historic Contamination From Previous Discharges From Nonnucl...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Gwynn,

Hatje,

Casacuberta

et al. 2024

Commun Earth Environ

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Climate change interacts with the sources and cycling of contaminants, such as radionuclides, in the environment. In this review, we discuss the implications of climate change impacts on existing and potential future sources of radionuclides associated with human activities to the marine environment. The overall effect on operational releases of radionuclides from the nuclear and non-nuclear sectors will likely be increased interference or prevention of normal operations due to weather-related events. For certain radioactive waste dumped at sea and sunken nuclear submarines, the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on the release of radionuclides and their subsequent fate in the marine environment should be considered further. Fluxes from secondary sources of radionuclides in the marine and terrestrial environment and cryosphere will change in response to climate change impacts such as sea level rise, warming and changes in precipitation patterns. In addition, climate change impacts may increase the risk of releases of radionuclides from operational and legacy wastes on land to the marine environment. Overall, our synthesis highlights that there is a need to understand and assess climate change impacts on sources of radionuclides to the marine environment to meet environmental and management challenges under future climate scenarios.

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Section: Review Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Historic Contamination From Previous Discharges From Nonnucl...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Historic Contamination From Previous Discharges From Nonnucl...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Gwynn,

Hatje,

Casacuberta

et al. 2024

Commun Earth Environ

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“…It was found that the concentration of technogenic radionuclides also decreases gradual- ly in the bottom deposits in the Zalivs Abrosimova and Stepovogo ( Table 4). The results of numerous marine expeditions show that the concentration of technogenic radionuclides near the sunken submarines does not differ from the background level due to global fallout [11,12]. The technogenic irradiation dose to the Arctic biota (phyto-and zooplankton, crustaceans, mollusks, macrophytes, fish, and sea birds) for these conditions where estimated by the methods described in IAEA recommendations.…”

Section: Discharge Of Radioactive Wastes By Plants In Great Britain Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Radioecological problems of rehabilitating Arctic seas

Саркисов¹,

Vysotskii²,

Sivintsev

et al. 2007

At Energy

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Systematized information on nuclear and radiation hazardous objects scuttled in the seas of the WesternArctic -nuclear powered submarines, objects with and without spent nuclear fuel, the reactor bays of nuclear powered submarines, a nuclear powered icebreaker, and solid radioactive wastes -is presented. Together with technical data, the results of ranking objects according to their degree of radiation hazard, information on the status of the radioecological conditions at the scuttling sites, information about the effectiveness of existing protective barriers impeding the flow of radioactive substances into the surrounding seas is presented. An assessment is made of possible variants for rehabilitating sea water areas, including keeping scuttled objects on the sea bottom, raising such objects, salvaging and re-disposal at great depths taking account of international requirements and Russian normative and legal base.Arctic ices are melting. The winter extension zone of polar ice in the Scandinavian seas has decreased by approximately 25% during the past century. In 2005, the Bering Sea remained almost completely unfrozen during the winter. This is unprecedented. If this continues, the Northern Arctic Ocean could become navigable year round in the next decade. In this connection, variants are being examined for developing shipping lanes in the Arctic and along the Russian sea coast, which is free of piracy and is the shortest distance between Europe and Southeast Asia. Prospects are opening up for shipping freight from the western coast of Canada and the USA to Europe and vice versa. Consequently, the significance of the Arctic not freezing is enormous and indisputable.This opens up great possibilities for our country. On the one hand, rejuvenation of northern shipping will help restore the weak economy of remote regions, while on the other hand it will help to establish mutually profitable bilateral relations between Russia and the West and between the West and Southeast Asia. Russia plays a special role in preserving Arctic ecosystems. About one third of the entire area of the Arctic -one of the largest biosphere reserves and an ecological filter -lies in the Russian sector. Diversity and abundance of organisms are characteristic for the part near the Atlantic; large schools of North Atlantic fishes (herring, cod, haddock, sea bass, pollack, and others) are observed during the summer. Several types of whales, primarily, finback and Greenland right whales, live in the Northern Arctic Ocean. The cold seas of the Arctic, rich with fish and animals, are a large source of food and enormous mineral resources lie hidden on the bottom [1].The enormous natural resources require that this region be treated with great care. However, the events occurring in the last century in connection with the nuclear arms race have already damaged the Arctic -individual regions of the Arctic are radioactively contaminated, dangerous solid radioactive wastes, including sunken/scuttled nuclear powered submarines

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RETRACTED: Dispersal of the radionuclide caesium-137 (137Cs) from point sources in the Barents and Norwegian Seas and its potential contamination of the Arctic marine food chain: Coupling numerical ocean models with geographical fish distribution data

Heldal

Vikebø

Johansen

2012

Environmental Pollution

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Dispersal of (137)Cs from Komsomolets and K-159 is simulated using realistic rates and hypothetical scenarios. Furthermore, spatiotemporal (137)Cs concentrations in Northeast Arctic cod and capelin are estimated based on survey data. The results indicate that only pulse discharges from K-159 will cause concentrations of (137)Cs in cod muscle exceeding the intervention level of 600 Bq/kg fresh weight. A discharge of ≥10% of the (137)Cs-inventory will result in concentrations in muscle of cod exceeding the intervention level for approximately two years. In fact, a discharge of 10% of the (137)Cs-inventory results in an overlap of 8-30% between the different size groups of cod and levels that exceed the intervention level during the first year after the discharge. For capelin, individuals less than one year old during the first year after a discharge are more likely to be severely affected by discharges comprising ≥50% of the inventory.

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Radiation conditions near the sunken submarine “Komsomolets”

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

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

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

Radioecological problems of rehabilitating Arctic seas

RETRACTED: Dispersal of the radionuclide caesium-137 (137Cs) from point sources in the Barents and Norwegian Seas and its potential contamination of the Arctic marine food chain: Coupling numerical ocean models with geographical fish distribution data

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