Conflicting reports on Severodvinsk sub fire raise concerns of a hush-up policy

Part of: Northern Fleet accidents and incidents
ingress_image
These Akula class submarines of the Project 971 are the most up-to-date nuclear subs operated by the Russian Northern Fleet. Pictured on the left is K-317, dubbed Pantera, and on the right, K-328, or Leopard.
Foto: Moscoop
The press-service of the shipbuilding yard Sevmash based in Severodvinsk in Northern Russia continues to play down concerns caused by the November 2 fire that took place on the K-317 nuclear submarine while under repairs at the yard. Rashid Alimov, 20/11-2006 - Translated by Maria Kaminskaya Reckless negligence during welding works is blamed for the blaze that erupted on November 2 on the NATO-classification Akula nuclear submarine K-317. Several people are reported to have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of the fire.

“We do not comment [where it concerns work] commissioned by the military,” said Sevmash press-service to Bellona.Ru.

Nina Popravko, legal counsel with the St. Petersburg Environmental and Human Rights Centre Bellona, is adamant that such informational policy is unacceptable.

“Such behaviour on the part of the yard’s representatives is simply foolish. The public must be given prompt access to information about any incident of this kind at a site as potentially dangerous as a nuclear submarine,” Popravko said.

“Russian citizens have the constitutionally guaranteed right to receive credible and timely information.”

According to the Russian legislation, “excluded from categorising as state secret and from assigning the classified status is information on accidents… that threaten the health and safety of the population.” Presidential Decree No. 90 “On the roster of types of information categorised as state secret,” signed on February 11, 2006, and the Law No. 5485-1 of the Russian Federation of July 21, 1993, entitled “On state secret,” further specify that the classified status cannot be applied to information pertaining to the state of the environment, threats to the health of the population or violations of the rights and freedoms of the citizens.

Contradictory reports on what happened on the K-317 and whether anyone has suffered from a fire are causing concerns that this simple legal truth may be lost in a seeming attempt to cover up the seriousness of the accident.

bodytextimage
The K-317 sub under repairs at Sevmash shipbuilding yard.
www.deepstorm.ru


Contrary to a report by the Russian daily Kommersant, which was first to inform the public of the accident, Sevmash press-service representatives assert that the submarine “had already been taken out of the dock” and was moored at the yard’s wharf.

“If the submarine was afloat and was not inside the dry dock, then any incident, especially a fire, can lead to the loss of buoyancy and the sinking of the submarine,” said St. Petersburg-based Bellona chairman, reserve Captain First Rank Alexander Nikitin, himself a former submariner.

One such accident took place in 1985 on Kamchatka in the Russian Far East, when a Charlie-class submarine, the K-429, sank at a pier of a ship-repairing yard, where it had been delivered for repairs following a salvage and rescue operation after it had sunk at sea, an accident that was ascribed to the crew’s incompetence.

The K-317
Construction of the K-317 was started at Sevmash in November 1986; the sub was first floated in May 1990. On December 30 of the same year it was taken into operation by the Russian Navy, which dubbed it “Pantera.”

The K-317 was assigned to the 24th submarine division of the Russian Northern Fleet and was in 1993 awarded by a Russian Navy’s Commander-in-Chief prize for its performance in an anti-submarine warfare drill.

In early 1996, during a military manoeuvre, the submarine suffered an accident, when the refrigerating system on board started leaking Freon gas into the sub’s compartments. The crew was able to fix the system’s malfunction with its own efforts and without having to resort to surfacing.

In January 1999, Pantera’s commander Captain First Rank Sergei Spravtsev was conferred the Title of the Hero of Russia. According to press reports, the sub’s crew had for 150 hours straight been conducting a covert operation following an American strategic missile submarine.

The nuclear submarine is powered by an atomic reactor of the type OK-650B with an energy output capacity of 190 megawatt.


Smoke hazard or smoke screen?
As information about the incident was finding its way into the Russian press, Sevmash representatives have been doing their best to disprove reports that the fire was anything serious to talk about – or that there was a fire at all.

“Information about a fire is complete nonsense, there was only a smoke hazard,” said Sevmash press-service in an interview to Bellona.Ru. “Just take a look at the information published by [the news agency] Regnum.”

In his statements to Regnum, acting head of the Special Department of the Federal Firefighting Service No. 18 Evgeny Morozov said that the submarine “suffered a smoke hazard caused by a short circuit in the electrical wiring,” but that “no fire outbreak or combustion products have been found.” He added that the crew had been able to tackle the situation without the help of a firefighting unit.

But Kommersant describes the sequence of events as follows: “…due to the welders’ recklessness, rags and waste first took on fire, which then spread onto the wooden decking; while the welders tried to stop the burning, the blaze started moving into the cable routing laid inside the submarine.”

The third compartment, where the short circuit had taken place, was then hermetically sealed as required by firefighting regulations.

Andrei Mikhailov, a journalist and former submariner from Severodvinsk, said about the incident: “Though very unpleasant, this kind of situation is quite common.”

But Bellona’s Nikitin offers a different point of view: “Yes, such incidents happen often on submarines undergoing repairs, but no one said such things should be taken lightly, either.”

Mikhailov also cited a statement made by Severodvinsk Rescue Service head Konstantin Okulov, who said that one of the specialists on board did suffer from the incident: A worker was apparently hospitalised for carbon monoxide poisoning.

This information contradicts firefighter Morozov’s statement about the absence of any combustion products.

Other reports say that between four and seven workers altogether were taken to the hospital for treatment as a result of the accident. Sevmash press service declined to either confirm or deny this information.

“Any suchlike situations on nuclear submarines, be it a fire or a smoke hazard, are accidents. They create a threat to the environment and to the safety of human lives,” said Nikitin.

“Sometimes it all turns out alright. Then again, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Copyright © Bellona -- Reprint and copying is recommended if source is stated

Support Bellona's work for the environment - Phone +47 23 23 46 00 | E-MAIL: info@bellona.no