Some great photos have just come my way which illustrate some of the UK’s work with Russia on the nuclear legacy of the former Soviet Union.
The hulk in the picture is a November-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, one of fourteen such craft which patrolled the seas for two decades of the Cold War.
Times change, and last week NPS-291 made her final voyage, to Russia’s Nerpa shipyard.
Look closely at the grey blocks on either side of the hull. Those, our Naval Attaché tells me, are SPS-200 pontoons, designed specifically for towing submarines, like NPS-291, which can no longer stay afloat themselves – and paid for by the UK. On the decals on the front of them you’ll see the flags of the UK, Norway, the US and Russia. These are the four countries of AMEC – Arctic Military Environment Cooperation – countries, a multilateral initiative to help address environmental problems in the Arctic region associated with Russian nuclear submarine decommissioning.
NPS-291 will now be dismantled at Nerpa, her nuclear reactors having already been safely decommissioned. And the pontoons, having proven themselves with flying colours, are now ready to be used again for similar operations.
Posted at 19:02 21 October 2008 by James Barbour |
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