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LOCATION: Rosta district of Murmansk
SUBORDINATION: Ministry of Defense
[Igor Kudrik, "Naval repair yards in
the north-west of Russia," Current Status online edition, http://www.bellona.no/e/,
30 March 1998.] {Entered 10/12/99 TR} ACTIVITIES: After two years of construction, Sevmorput Naval Shipyard No. 35 opened
in 1938, with a number of workshops and two large dry docks. Sevmorput's
principle activities included first-generation nuclear submarine repairs
and nuclear submarine refueling,[1] in addition to conventional submarine
repairs.[2] However, in 1991, concerns over safety during refueling
operations, which usually takes about two months, caused Murmansk oblast
officials to halt refueling activities at Sevmorput, located very close
to populated areas of the city of Murmansk. As of 1995, Sevmorput's
primary responsibility included keeping one Echo II class submarine and
one Hotel class submarine afloat in the shipyard. Although
the shipyard did not successfully obtain a share of the submarine decommissioning
and dismantlement work for the Northern Fleet, management hopes to participate
in a project to dismantle conventional vessels.[6] In addition, a
portion of the yard has been privatized and accepts work from the merchant
fleet when military demands are lacking.[1]
Sevmorput contains a storage facility for fresh fuel
assemblies, which used to serve the entire Northern Fleet.[3, 4]
Also known as No. 3-30, military unit No. 31326, the facility experienced
the theft of 4.5 kilograms of 20 percent enriched HEU from three fuel assemblies
in November 1993, after which all of the fuel was moved to another facility.[1,
5]
Although Sevmorput does not store any liquid radioactive
waste (which is transferred to TNT tankers), the shipyard houses containers
for low level radioactive waste and a solid radioactive waste storage area.[1]
Sources: [1] Thomas Nilsen, Igor Kudrik, and
Alexandr Nikitin, "Naval yards," The Russian Northern Fleet, Bellona Foundation,
online edition, http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nfl/nfl5.htm. [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] Brooks Tigner, "Report Cites Russian
Waste Risk," Defense News, 21 November 1994, p. 10. [4] "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,
p. 121. [5] 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. [6] Igor Kudrik, "Naval repair yards
in the north-west of Russia," Bellona Current Status, http://www.bellona.no/e/,
30 March 1998. {Entered 1/22/99 TR}
SEVMORPUT DEVELOPMENTS: 10/23/2002: NUCLEAR SUBMARINE
UNDERGOING DISMANTLEMENT CATCHES FIRE On 23 October 2002, a
nuclear-powered submarine undergoing dismantlement at Sevmorput caught fire.
According to Bellona, a Norwegian environmental group, the vessel was probably
the K-22, an Echo II-class submarine that was
defueled by the Imandra service ship in 2001.[1] The fire began
in the scaffolding surrounding the submarine, and then spread to the rubber
coating on the nose of the submarine.[2] The area burned was about 200
square meters.[3] A welding torch is thought to have set off the blaze.
However, since the reactor compartment had already been cut out, there was no
danger of radioactive contamination from the incident. Six fire engines
responded to a call to the city civil defense station. The fire was
extinguished in about two hours.[2] Sources:
[1] Igor Kudrik, "Submarine on fire in Murmansk suburb," Bellona Web Site,
http://www.bellona.no.
[2] Olga Feofanova, "Gorela staraya podlodka," Murmanskaya vestnik, 24
October 2002; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru.
[3] "V Murmanskom doke zagorelas atomnaya podvodnaya lodka," Lenta.ru Web Site,
http://www.lenta.ru. {Entered
11/5/2002 CC}
8/5/2002: FIRST-GENERATION SUBMARINE DEFUELED
AT SEVMORPORT
On
5 August 2002, Bellona reported that the service ship
Imandra
had started unloading spent nuclear fuel from an Echo II first-generation
nuclear-powered submarine
at
Sevmorput Shipyard in Murmansk. The submarine, K-128/62, was
commissioned in 1966 and taken out from operation in 1994. In 1989, the
submarine's starboard
reactor had its usage limited to 70% power. The last refueling
of the submarine's reactors was performed at Sevmorput
in 1982. ["First
generation submarine is being defuelled in Murmansk," Bellona Web Site,
http://www.bellona.no, 5
August 2002.] {Entered 2/24/2003 AV}
6/29/2001: SEVMORPUT ELECTRICITY MAY BE CUT OFF On 29 June 2001, the Rosbalt information agency reported that Kolenergo, the
Kola Peninsula regional electricity provider, intends to limit or even cut off
the supply of electricity to its debtors, including Sevmorput. Sevmorput owes
Kolenergo 32 million rubles (almost $1.1 million as of 29 June 2001).
["Murmanskaya oblast. OAO 'Kolenergo'
vvodit ogranicheniya po podache elektroenergii na 13 krupnykh promyshlennykh i
voyennykh predpriyatiyakh oblasti," Rosbalt, 29 June 2001; in Regions.ru,
29 June 2001; in Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.ru.]
{Entered 8/10/2001 EF}
11/25/98: NAVAL YARD EMPLOYEES STRIKE Over 9,000 workers at the Sevmorput naval yard in
Murmansk staged a one-day strike in late November. The workers were
protesting because their wages are overdue by approximately six months.
Trade union leaders at the shipyard said that if back wages continued to
be unpaid by the end of the year, employees would go on indefinite strike
with the goal of shutting down the naval repair yard, at which two decommissioned
nuclear submarines are located. The shortage in wages has led submarine
commanders to reinstate a system of patronage in order to meet the basic
nutritional needs of the sailors. In this system of patronage, a
Russian city adopts a submarine and supplies the crew with basic provisions.
[Thomas Nilsen, "Naval yard workers
on strike," Bellona Foundation website, http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nfl/news/981127.htm,
27 November 1998. {Entered 3/18/99 HA}
Last updated 12 May 2003
Comments or questions? Contact Cristina Chuen at MIIS
CNS: Cristina.Chuen@miis.edu
To return to the main
Northern Fleet entry, see the 
