WHAT TO DO WITH THE NUCLEAR SUBMARINES WITH DAMAGED CORES

摘要

Some of the early nuclear submarines of Russia suffered accidents, e.g. criticality accidents or LOCAs, whereby the fuel assemblies of the reactor core were damaged and radioactive material released. In the 1960es the reactor compartment of such submarines was disposed of by cutting it out of the submarine and sinking it in the sea. However, since Russia became party to the London Dumping Convention this is no longer permissible. Unfortunately, the alternative, the disposal of these reactor compartments or complete submarines raises very difficult problems. Various approaches have been proposed, and they will be reviewed, but none seems very satisfactory. Since the aim must be to find an approach that will result in an over-all minimum damage to the environment, this raises the question whether some sort of sea disposal would not be the best solution. This question is discussed.