To return to the main Northern Fleet entry, see the Northern Fleet file.

The post-Cold War environment of economic hardship, arms reductions, and military reform, including continued downsizing of Russia's Pacific Fleet, has modified and increased the responsibilities of the Northern Fleet, and the facilities at Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk Oblast have borne a large part of the increased responsibilities.  The Severodvinsk complex includes the Northern Machine-Building Enterprise, more commonly known as Sevmash, and the Zvezdochka Repair Facility.  Although Sevmash has participated in submarine construction since 1953,[1] it has become Russia's sole new nuclear submarine construction site after the Russian government decided to phase out construction at Amurskiy Zavod.  Construction projects underway include a new Severodvinsk class SSN and a new Borey class SSBN.[2]  However, a lack of funds is hampering progress on submarine construction projects at Sevmash.  Sevmash also houses fresh fuel and participates in a number of civilian production activities,[3, 4] in addition to sharing some dismantlement responsibilities with Zvezdochka, a START I-designated dismantlement facility.  Although decommissioning and dismantlement comprise Zvezdochka's primary activities, spent fuel and radioactive waste transportation problems and scarce resources have also made Zvezdochka a de facto spent fuel and radioactive waste storage facility as well.[5]
Sources:
[1] Oleg Bukharin and Joshua Handler, "Russian Nuclear-Powered Submarine Decommissioning," Science and Global Security, vol. 5, 1995, p. 251.
[2] Joshua Handler, "The Russian Naval Nuclear Complex;" in The Nuclear Legacy of the Former Soviet Union: Implications for Security and Ecology, Gerd Busmann, Oliver Meier, and Otfried Nassauer, eds., BITS Research Report 97.1, November 1997, p. 25.
[3] The Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Nuclear Successor States of the Soviet Union: Status Report on Nuclear Weapons, Fissile Material, and Export Controls, no. 5, March 1998, p. 59.
[4] Valentin Bogomolov, "Officials Dispute Repair Site for Missile Cruiser," Rabochaya Tribuna, 23, July 1997, p. 3; in FBIS-SOV-97-210, 29 July 1997.
[5] "Nuclear Wastes in the Arctic: An Analysis of Arctic and Other Regional Impacts From Soviet Nuclear Contamination," OTA-ENV-623, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, September 1995, pp. 121, 129.

Page last updated 17 April 1998
For more recent developments, see the Northern Fleet Developments file and development sections under individual fleet facility files listed above.
 
Comments or questions? Contact Cristina Chuen at MIIS CNS: Cristina.Chuen@miis.edu

This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2002 by MIIS.

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