The Kosmolets is a sunken Project 685 Mike Class submarine.[^1] It was designed with a Titanium hull.[^3] A fire in 1989 caused it to sink in 1700m water in the Barents Sea.[^2] The fire started in the stern compartment.[^3] Before shut down, the reactor was estimated to be operating at 67.5 MWt for 1.25 years (50% power).[^1] The radionuclides in the reactor are shown below as a function of time.[^1]
The radionuclide inventory is shown below[^1]
Holes in the submarine were sealed off to prevent the leakage of radioactive materials into the environment.[^2] In addition to the nuclear reactor, the submarine has 2 nuclear warheads that contain several kilos of plutonium.[^2]
Sources
- [1] S. Høibråten et al., ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT FOR NON-DEFUELLED, DECOMMISSIONED NUCLEAR SUBMARINES. 2007. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1660.7124.
- [2] R. D. Praaning, J. Wellink, and T. Vergouw, “The Komsomolets And Beyond,” presented at the Man-Made Objects on the Seafloor Discovery, Investigation and Recovery 1995, OnePetro, Feb. 1995. Accessed: Dec. 16, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://dx.doi.org/
- [3] D. C. F. Daniel, “Fire at Sea: The Tragedy of the Soviet Submarine Komsomolets (review),” Journal of Cold War Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 178–180, 2007.
Backlinks
[[Radionuclide]]
[[Russian Nuclear Weapons]]