RUSSIA: A second worker has died following an explosion aboard a decommissioned Russian nuclear submarine, highlighting fears about the danger of these vessels to the environment.
The men died after the blast inside a Viktor class submarine as it was being cut up for scrap metal at the Zvyozdochka shipyard in the base of Severodvinsk on the White Sea.
Naval authorities said the nuclear reactor had already been removed from the vessel, and there was no danger of radioactivity leaking.
The accident comes close to the fifth anniversary of the sinking, on August 12th, of the nuclear submarine Kursk, which blew up while conducting exercises in the Barents Sea, killing all 112 men aboard.
Monday's blast came when a welding torch being used to carve up the steel hull ignited gas vapours inside the submarine. One worker died instantly and a second died yesterday in hospital.
The blast will worry European officials. Scandinavian countries have already protested that leaks from the reactors of Russia's 84 decommissioned nuclear subs could poison the White Sea.
This blast comes a month after Russia announced a programme to carve up weaponry of the former Red Army.
A €2 billion programme will scrap 6,000 tanks, 35,000 missiles, 1,000 jets and 500 intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In addition to the Kursk, four nuclear submarines remain on the bottom with decaying reactors as a result of accidents during the Cold War.
They include the Komsomolets, which caught fire and sank off Norway in 1989 with the loss of 41 crew.