To return to the main
Pacific Fleet entry, see the
Pacific Fleet
file.
Bolshoy Kamen, a closed city of approximately 41,200,[1]
is situated on the west side of the Shkotovo Peninsula, about 35 kilometers
east of Vladivostok.[2] Bolshoy Kamen has two plants built
to service nuclear-powered submarines, the Zvezda
and Vostok shipyards, and it supports submarine service
and nuclear waste transport ships.
The Zvezda shipyard was included in a 1996 list of
480 Russian defense enterprises for which privatization was prohibited.[1]
While the Zvezda shipyard continues to refuel, repair, decommission, and
dismantle nuclear submarines, the Vostok shipyard has undergone defense
conversion. The Vostok shipyard once outfitted nuclear-powered submarines
constructed at Komsomolsk-na-Amure, but after cessation of production at
Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Vostok turned to commercial ventures.[3]
Bolshoy Kamen, Primorskiy Kray;
approximately 25km east of Vladivostok, across Ussuriskiy Bay.
Russian Shipbuilding Agency
Director: Yuriy
Petrovich Shulgan
Head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department:
Aleksandr Kiselev
The Zvezda Far Eastern Shipyard's primary tasks involve
the repair and dismantlement of nuclear submarines. Zvezda is the START-I
declared dismantlement facility for the Russian Pacific Fleet, and all
SSBNs dismantled there must be visible for satellite verification of the
removal of their missile tubes. The submarines being scrapped at this site
include Echo-class SSNs, November-class SSNs, and Yankee-class
SSBNs. Zvezda reportedly has the capacity to dismantle five to six submarines
a year but is currently scrapping only one to two boats annually.[1,2,3,4]
(Please see the Decommissioning
and Dismantlement Issues section for more information on this topic.)
In
November 2000, the United States signed a contract to finance dismantlement of
five SSBNs at Zvezda. According to DTRA
information presented on 2 August 2001 in Bolshoy Kamen, Zvezda had dismantled 11 SSBNs, 420
missile launchers, and 792
warheads by August 2001.[5] In July 2001 Yuriy Shulgan, then chief engineer,
stated that from 1991 to 2001 Zvezda dismantled 25 nuclear-powered submarines,
18 of which were SSBNs.[6]
As of early 1996, under the US Department of Defense Cooperative Threat
Reduction (CTR) program, the United States had provided Zvezda with $8.4
million in assistance in the form of US equipment (including a massive
guillotine shear, cranes, conveyors, plasma cutters, and oxyacetylene torches)
to help dismantle submarines.[7] Dismantlement rates at the facility remained
low, however, making it doubtful that workers at Zvezda were making optimal
use of the equipment. As a result, in 1996, Defense Department officials
began to contract directly with the shipyard for "deliverables" of dismantled
SSBNs.[10] (For more information on the CTR submarine dismantlement program
see the Naval Reactor
Foreign Assistance section, and for an overview of all CTR programs
see the Russia:
Foreign Assistance section.)
The Zvezda shipyard also houses underground storage
facilities for liquid radioactive waste. In the mid-1990s, serious problems
arose at the facility due to inadequate capacity and a lack of filtration
equipment to reduce the volume of the liquid wastes from submarines.
These problems were alleviated by the application of an experimental Russian
radioactive liquid waste processing facility.[8]
In addition, as part of a Japanese nuclear assistance
program, the US firm Babcock and Wilcox helped designed a larger and more
advanced facility (attached to the top of a barge for the sake of portability)
that was completed at Komsomolsk-na-Amure under subcontract to the Japanese
Tomen Group and was floated down to Bolshoy Kamen in the fall of 1997.[7,8]
As of December 1997, a moorage for this facility was under construction.
It was anticipated that the facility would become operational in April 1998.[9] The facility was completed in June
1998,[11] but only became operational
in October 2000.[12] In 1993, it was estimated
that operating the plant would cost $3.4 million per year. Japan
has pledged to underwrite only the first year of operation, after which
Russia will have to provide the financing.[7] (For more information on the Landysh
LRW processing facility, see the Landysh
section. For an overview of Japanese
assistance programs please see the Naval
Reactors Foreign Assistance section. The problem of radioactive waste
disposal is discussed in more detail in the Naval
Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste section.)
Longer-term problems faced by the facility include
a lack of storage facilities for solid, high-level wastes (especially reactor
containment vessels from dismantled submarines) and inadequate transportation
equipment to remove solid wastes to permanent storage sites elsewhere in
Russia. No long-term Russian storage plan exists for the solid wastes.
The Zvezda shipyard also houses underground storage
facilities for liquid radioactive waste (LRW), as well as tankers that dock periodically
in the bay to defuel submarines.[1] In the mid-1990s, serious problems
arose at the facility due to inadequate capacity and a lack of filtration
equipment to reduce the volume of the liquid wastes from submarines.
These problems were alleviated by the application of an experimental Russian LRW
processing facility, and the final completion of the Landysh LRW
processing facility in October 2000.[2,3]
6/28/2003: JAPAN FUNDS DISMANTLEMENT OF SUBMARINE
On 28 June 2003, Japan and Russia signed an agreement on the dismantlement
of a Victor III-class submarine. The "Star of Hope" dismantlement project
involves the planned dismantlement of more than 40 decommissioned Pacific Fleet
nuclear submarines over the course of nine years.[1] Japan has committed ¥800
million (approximately $6.6 million) for the first 18 months of the project.[2]
(For more information on Japanese foreign assistance, see the
Naval: Foreign Assistance
Overview and the Russia:
International Assistance Programs: Japan files.)
4/15/2003: ZVEZDA BEGINS RECYCLING
NUCLEAR WASTE
On 11 April 2003, an onshore facility for unloading spent fuel from decommissioned submarine reactors
was officially opened. The first defueling occurred in January 2003.
The unloaded fuel is placed in special
containers and sent to Mayak for reprocessing. The new facility shortens
defueling to just three weeks. The
construction of the $11.1 million facility was financed by the U.S. Defense Threat
Reduction Agency according to a contract signed in
late October 1999. The facility is equipped with all available safety measures,
including an automated
radiation control system in real-time mode, video surveillance, and communication
and fire alarm systems. In addition, the facility has its own special forces
to ensure physical protection. According to unconfirmed information,
46 non-strategic nuclear submarines are on the waiting list to be defueled providing the shipyard with work for
some 20 years.[1,2]
11/12/2002: SSBN
CATCHES FIRE
On 12 November 2002, an SSBN undergoing dismantlement at Zvezda caught fire. The vessel,
a Murena-class [NATO name 'Delta I'] SSBN identified
as hull number 225, burned for nearly 12 hours.
Firefighters from all three fire departments in the area, at Zvezda,
Vostok,
and the city of Bolshoy Kamen,
took part in fighting the fire. While two compartments of the submarine burned, the
blaze
did not reach the reactor compartment. The submarine had already been
undergoing dismantlement for two months. This was the second fire on
board; however, the first fire was quickly extinguished. According to Trud,
Zvezda directors originally tried to hide information about the scale of the
fire. Once city inhabitants learned of the fire, the directors
admitted there had been a fire, but explained that this was not unusual given
dismantlement technologies used at the plant (which include
oxyacetylene torches).
9/25/2002: BOLSHOY KAMEN SUFFERS
ELECTRICITY BLACK-OUT
On 25 September 2002,
electricity to the city of Bolshoy Kamen
was cut off for three hours. The city administration owes power providers
500,000 rubles (about $15,800 as of 26 September 2002). If these debts are paid, the city will suffer no further
black-outs.
9/17/2002: CONSTRUCTION OF
RADWASTE AND REACTOR STORAGE FACILITIES
On 17 September 2002, Deputy
Minister of Atomic Energy Valeriy Lebedev
stated that construction of storage facilities for solid radioactive waste and
single-compartment reactors would begin in 2003.
8/14/2002: SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL UNLOADING FACILITY
ITAR-TASS reported on 14
August 2002 that the construction of an
unloading facility for spent nuclear fuel from submarines had been completed at Zvezdochka.[1]
Russian
Shipbuilding Agency Deputy Director Vasiliy Usachev said that a
similar defueling system would be installed at the Zvezda plant in
Bolshoy Kamen.[2] (For more information, see the
8/14/2002 entry in the
Zvezdochka file.)
11/26/2001: IRKUTSK SSGN ARRIVES AT ZVEZDA
FOR REPAIRS
On 26 November 2001, the Pacific Fleet Antey-class
[NATO name Oscar II] SSGN Irkutsk arrived for repairs at Zvezda.[1] The
decision to repair the submarine at Zvezda and not at Sevmash in Severodvinsk,
where it was built, was made because the submarine was not able to
travel from Kamchatka to Severodvinsk. The
technical condition of Irkutsk was so poor that its crew had to be replaced by one of the
most skilled Pacific Fleet crews, from the submarine Omsk of the same class, in
order to move the
submarine to Bolshoy Kamen safely.[2] According to Zvezda Director Yuriy Shulgan, the repairs will take
from from three to four months, though timing ultimately depends on financing.[3]
The repair of the Irkutsk marks the beginning of a program to
repair and modernize Antey-class SSGNs. The full-scope
program will start only after the final conclusions on the causes of the Kursk
accident are announced by the state commission.[2]
9/17/2001: ZVEZDA DIRECTOR VALERIY MASLAKOV
KILLED
On 17 September 2001, ITAR-TASS reported that Zvezda Director Valeriy Maslakov had died at a local
hospital from a knife wound in the chest. In connection with the murder, Maslakov's stepson was arrested and,
according to Bolshoy Kamen Police Chief Ivan Bazyka, has already confessed to
the killing.[1] The investigators believe that the murder was probably a
result of a domestic dispute. The suspect was under influence of alcohol at
the time of the incident.[2]
8/2/2001: NEW RADWASTE PROCESSING AND STORAGE FACILITY
OPERATIONAL
On 2 August 2001, a new low-level radioactive waste
processing and storage facility at Zvezda became operational. The facility,
officially called Facility 121, consists of a liquid radioactive waste (LRW) processing line
with a capacity of 2,500m3 a year, a solid radioactive
waste (SRW) processing line with a capacity of 200m3 a year, and a temporary
solid waste storage facility (called Building 131) with a capacity of 1,500m3.
Completion of a nuclear submarine defueling facility is planned for late
September 2001. As of August 2001, a special pier for the
Landysh
was being constructed at the same location.[1] The facility uses a different technology for treating liquid radioactive
waste than the Landysh. This new technology was developed by
Aspekt, an association that
includes several Russian institutes under the
Ministry of Atomic Energy. In processing LRW,
Facility 121 first uses a special sorbent
to clean waste water of radionuclides. The water is subsequently cleaned of chemical substances. The resulting
waste, in the form of a dry salt, occupies 15 times less volume than the waste from the
Landysh, which is cemented. SRW is sorted to separate compressible
materials from metal waste. After initial treatment, both metal and other waste is
compressed (although metal waste with higher radioactivity levels is cut into smaller pieces).
The resulting volume of waste is several times smaller than that achieved
using other technologies.[2]
Building 131 will temporarily store waste from the facility itself and from the Landysh.[1]
After enough waste has been accumulated, it will be sent to the
Radon
combine in Khabarovsk.[3] Facility 121's construction was financed by the US
Cooperative
Threat Reduction Program. The work was done by an international consortium
consisting of EnergoTech LLC (USA), Aspekt
(Russia), Cogema/SGN
(France), Booz-Allen & Hamilton
(USA), Kvaerner
Process Services, Inc. (United Kingdom), and Storvik
& Zvezdochka
Norway AS (Norway-Russia).[1] A similar facility has been
installed at Zvezdochka, in
Severodvinsk.
10/27/2000: ELECTRICITY SUPPLY PROBLEMS IN BOLSHOY
KAMEN
In November 2000, Bolshoy Kamen may face electricity
cut-offs. Local power providers owe more than 81 million rubles (more than $2.9 million as of 27
October 2000) to electricity producer Dalenergo.
9/4/2000: JAPAN TO CONTINUE FINANCIAL SUPPORT
FOR DEALING WITH NUCLEAR PROBLEMS IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST
For more information, please see the 9/4/2000
entry in the Foreign
Assistance Developments file.
6/2000: ZVEZDA TO REPAIR CHINESE KILO-CLASS
SUBMARINE
On 8 June 2000 Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov
signed a protocol confirming that Zvezda would repair a Project 877-EKM
(636) Varshavyanka [NATO name 'Kilo'] class diesel submarine
for the Chinese Navy.[1,2] Repairs are to begin in November 2000,
and will involve more than 500 specialists.[1] The plant will work
at capacity, will receive stable financing, and will hire additional workers.[2]
The Chinese Navy purchased four Varshavyanka submarines between 1995 and
1997,
and has been seeking an enterprise to repair the submarines since 1997.
Zvezda, Vladivostok's Dalzavod, and Komsomolsk-na-Amure's Amurskiy
Sudostroitelnyy Zavod applied for the job. In April 1999 a government
commission with representatives from the Defense, Economy, and Trade ministries
and Rosvooruzheniye officially chose Zvezda.[1] Since then, several
government commissions visited Zvezda and determined that it was the shipyard
with the best equipment and technical know-how in the Russian Far East.[2]
However, in December 1999 the Khabarovsk Kray administration and new director
of the Amurskiy Sudostroitelnyy Zavod began lobbying for Moscow to change
this decision. Zvezda continued to work with Rosvooruzheniye to hire
specialists and prepare for the repairs, while lobbying to protect its
contract. According to Zvezda Director Valeriy Maslakov, Klebanov
announced the Russian government's final decision on 8 June, giving the
contract to Zvezda. Maslakov said that the Primorskiy Kray administration
had played an important role in obtaining the positive decision.[1]
After the repair of the first submarine, the Chinese will decide on repairs
for its other three Varshavyankas.[3]
4/2000: FRANCE, JAPAN,
AND ZVEZDA TO STUDY DISMANTLEMENT, WASTE, AND SPENT FUEL OPTIONS
On 14 April 2000 Bellona reported that in May 2000
the French company SGN, JGC and Mitsui of Japan, and Zvezda would begin
studying the dismantlement of a Victor-class submarine, the rehabilitation
and conversion of a vessel to transport waste and spent fuel, and the feasibility
of a nuclear fuel retrieval facility.
3/2000: ZVEZDA GETS STATUS OF PRINCIPAL REPAIR
PLANT FOR MILITARY EXPORTS, REPAIRS CHINESE SUBS
According to the Primorskiy Kray administration Defense
Industry Committee, the Ministry
of Trade approved Zvezda's new official status as the principal repair
plant in the Russian Far East for previously exported military goods.
The Committee had been lobbying on Zvezda's behalf for two years.
Zvezda's foreign repair contracts include the reconstruction of two Chinese
submarines. After the successful completion of the submarine repairs,
the plant expects to get further Chinese contracts, for both submarines
and surface ships. As of March 2000, Zvezda is also constructing
platforms for the Sakhalin shelf oil project.
2/11/2000: JAPAN GIVES $120
MILLION FOR SUB DISMANTLEMENT
In talks between Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov and his Japanese counterpart, Yohei Kono, Japan
agreed to give Russia $120 million for nuclear submarine dismantlement.
The money is part of a $200 million disarmament aid package that Japan
promised Russia during the G-8 summit in June 1998. Additionally,
$20 million was earmarked to support the International
Science and Technology Center in Moscow.[1] Zvezda Director Valeriy
Maslakov said that some of the $120 million would doubtlessly be spent
on dismantlement at Zvezda, though submarines at Rybachiy
would probably be dismantled in Kamchatka.[2] Japan is currently
working through a British subcontractor to develop specific plans for dismantling
a Victor-class (Project 671) submarine, probably at Zvezda.
Japan and Russia have formed a bilateral organization to make decisions
about the details of submarine work and other disarmament aid projects.[3]
12/99: ZVEZDA REPORTS CREATION OF 400 JOBS IN
1999, EXPECTATION OF 500 NEW JOBS IN 2000
In December 1999 Zvezda Director Valeriy Maslov reported
that he had created 400 new jobs at the factory in 1999. Further,
he predicted the creation of 500 more new positions in 2000.[1] Although
the shipyard only received 10 percent of the federal funds promised in
approved defense contracts for dismantlement work in 1999, funding from
the United States CTR
program allowed the plant to rehire specialists and raise salaries
twice in 1999. The funding received through CTR helped the shipyard
recover its shipbuilding capabilities to the degree that it has begun a
civilian ship construction project. It is also repairing 10 civilian
ships and 11 nuclear submarines.[2]
9/2/99: ZVEZDA EMPLOYEE ONE OF SIX ARRESTED FOR
TRYING TO SELL URANIUM ALLOY
Police officers and agents of the Primorskiy Kray
Directorate of the Federal Security Service seized 3.5kg of uranium-238
alloyed with rare earth metals from a criminal group attempting to sell
it in Vladivostok, Kommersant reported on 2 September 1999.[1]
Some reports described the seized material as an alloy of uranium-238 and
nickel,[2,3] with one saying it was a sphere 10cm in diameter.[3]
Six suspects, including three suspected sellers of the material and three
suspected purchasers, were arrested as they attempted to exchange a metallic
container holding the material for $35,000 (some sources report that the
deal involved $65,000 or $130,000).[2,4] Izvestiya reported
that the suspected sellers had promised to sell up to 9kg of the material
for $60,000, adding that police were attempting to recover the material
that was not seized in the initial arrest.[5] Military counterintelligence
agents of the Russian Pacific Fleet also reportedly cooperated in the operation
that led to the arrests.[3] Kommersant reported that the arrests
were not the result of a "sting" operation involving police agents posing
as buyers of illicit nuclear materials. Instead, they resulted from
surveillance of the suspected sellers after police received a tip that
they were trying to sell radioactive materials.[1] Vladivostok
News reported that the police had first learned of the group selling
the uranium after an earlier (date unspecified) transaction in which they
sold 300g of a uranium-lutetium alloy.[6] One of the suspected sellers
is a 60 year-old engineer employed at the Zvezda Far
Eastern Shipyard, which conducts repair and dismantlement of Russian
nuclear submarines. According to Kommersant, she stored the
material in her garage for "a long time" while trying to find a purchaser.[1]
Initial reports suggested that this engineer had stolen the material from Zvezda. However, on 3 September 1999, a spokesman for the Primorskiy
Kray Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Interfax that
a check at Zvezda had "not uncovered a shortfall of any radioactive materials,
including uranium." The spokesman concluded that the initial supposition
that the material had been stolen from Zvezda was therefore false, and
that the investigation to locate the source of the material was continuing.[4]
The material reportedly emits radiation at a level that exceeds allowable
norms by 2,500 times, and the suspects, who did not follow proper safety
precautions, may have received serious doses of radiation when handling
it.[1] A criminal case has been opened and the suspects have been
charged with violating Article 220 of the Russian Criminal Code, which
prohibits illegal trade in radioactive materials. A spokesman for
the Vladivostok police told the media that the suspects could receive up
to two years imprisonment if convicted, a sentence he described as too
mild given the severity of their crime.[6]
3/99: TWO MEN CONFESS TO 1993 MURDER OF DEPUTY
DIRECTOR MAKAROV AS PART OF PLOT TO SEIZE CONTROL OF ZVEZDA
In March 1999 law enforcement officials in Sakhalin
Oblast apprehended two suspects apparently involved in a string of murders-for-hire
since the early 1990s. During their interrogation, the criminals
confessed to the October 1993 murder of Aleksandr Makarov, the deputy director
of Zvezda. The criminals further revealed that their real aim
was to threaten him into setting up a profit-skimming operation at the
shipyard, funneling moneys from defense orders to a criminal organization.
Makarov refused to cooperate with the criminals, however, and they lured
him to a remote area, attempted to strangle him, and then slit his throat.
The Primorskiy Kray authorities had been unable to solve the crime until
the confessions in Sakhalin. Based on the confessions, three more
accomplices were arrested in Primorskiy Kray.
3/99: JAPANESE VISIT BRINGS HOPE OF MORE
ASSISTANCE
In early March 1999, as part of a joint Russian-Japanese
delegation, representatives from the Japanese government visited the Zvezda
Shipyard in Bolshoy Kamen and expressed interest in increasing the
nuclear submarine dismantlement capacity there.[1,2] The Primorskiy
Kray administration told Interfax that the Japanese officials were specifically
interested in modernizing equipment at Zvezda, building a new submarine
dismantlement area there, and upgrading a railway linking the Zvezda facility
with the Trans-Siberian railway.[2] Following the delegates' visit
to Zvezda, the Japanese government began to consider funding for the program.[1,2]
6/24/98: ZVEZDA WORKERS PICKET PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS
Nearly 500 Zvezda employees continued to picket the
Pacific Fleet headquarters in Vladivostok. Workers once again demanded
15 months of back wages. The Ministry of Defense owes the shipyard
nearly 130 million rubles. Zvezda has been crippled by financial
shortages and strikes, and work there has nearly stopped. Workers
intended to spend several days at their camp consisting of more than 40
tents next to the headquarters.
6/98: TRADE UNIONS APPROVE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
DECISION
The federation of trade unions in the Primorskiy
Kray showed their support of Zvezda shipyard employees by approving the
decision to perform acts of civil disobedience on 20 and 23 June 1998.[1,2]
In addition, the trade unions have requested that local residents support
the Zvezda employees. The employees intend to march from Bolshoy
Kamen to Vladivostok,[2] where they will set up camp in hopes of attracting
the attention of authorities to the problems that Bolshoy Kamen is suffering,
including poverty and increasing unemployment.[1] Zvezda employee
demands primarily include payment of wage arrears, the issue of a 190 million
ruble state order, and the organization of a congress of Russian trade
unions.[1] Participating employees also plan to close the Trans-Siberian
railroad and the Vladivostok-Khabarovsk and Vladivostok-Nakhodka highways
on 23 June 1998.[2]
5/98: UNITED STATES FUNDING DISMANTLEMENT AT ZVEZDA
The United States Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) has decided to award a contract to the Zvezda Shipyard to dismantle
two ballistic missile submarines.[1,2] Under this contract, the Zvezda
Shipyard is responsible for providing the required equipment, oversight,
operations, logistics, and infrastructure for the dismantlement.[1]
The DSWA will finance the entire project, from transporting the submarines
to the shipyards, to paying employee wages, to removal and shipment of
the spent fuel to Mayak.[1,2] According to the contract, dismantlement
will be completed within 14 months.[2] This contract provides some
relief for Zvezda employees, who are owed back wages by the government.
During this project, 120 workers will be guaranteed wages. The contract
may also include provisions for the dismantlement of two more submarines.[3]
The Primoskiy Kray government reported that the Ministry of Economy will
finalize the draft in late May 1998.[2] (For more information on
foreign assistance, please see the Naval
Foreign Assistance section.)
4/25/98: FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES PLAGUE ZVEZDA
Workers at the Zvezda shipyard have not been paid
for 14 months. Zvezda employees received humanitarian aid in spring 1998
and in 1997. Although the administration of the kray succeeded in
augmenting the workload of the shipyard almost twofold, the increase only
provided for about half of the 5,000 Zvezda employees. As a result,
shipyard director Valeriy Maslakov suggested to workers that they try to
find other sources of income. The kray administration tried to ease
the situation by budgeting 20 million rubles for the creation of new jobs,
the primary task. Kray leadership suggests that the prospects for
Zvezda are not all bad. Financing agreements for submarine dismantlement
are underway with the United States, which will help to provide jobs and
wages.
2/23/98: US AWARDS CONTRACT
TO ZVEZDA TO IMPROVE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR DISMANTLEMENT
The United States Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) has awarded a contract to Zvezda shipyard to improve its infrastructure
for submarine dismantlement. According to the Post-Soviet Nuclear
& Defense Monitor, Zvezda will test oxygen generators, repair the
electrical systems of three cranes, install 2.4km of electrical supply
cable for low-level radioactive waste volume reduction, and install a low
pressure air distribution system. (Please see the Naval
Foreign Assistance Section for more information on foreign assistance
programs.)
1/27/98: ZVEZDA EMPLOYEES JOIN STRIKE WITH COAL
MINERS AND OTHER DEFENSE INDUSTRY WORKERS
Approximately 2,500 defense workers and coal miners
in Primorskiy Kray held a three-hour protest on the Trans-Siberian Railway
only 43km from Vladivostok. The Russian government owes 11 months'
worth of wages to defense industry workers in the kray, including those
from
the Zvezda Shipyard.[1] Local teachers and doctors received 180 billion
rubles (approximately $30 billion) toward their wage debts.[2]
1/24/98: BOLSHOY KAMEN WITHOUT FUEL
Fuel stored on the territory of the Zvezda shipyard
is missing, leaving the town of Bolshoy Kamen no fuel in the middle of
the winter. Reports suggest the Zvezda enterprise, which requires
the fuel to maintain temperatures around its submarines, their nuclear
reactors in particular, used the fuel. [1] The Far Eastern regional
center of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations responded by by
sending 2,000MT of fuel to Zvezda . [2]
11/22/97: MIKHAYLOV DISCUSSES FATE OF PACIFIC
FLEET ENTERPRISES
For details, please see the 11/22/97
entry in the Pacific Fleet General Developments
file.
11/6/97: FIRST DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER FAILS TO
APPEASE ZVEZDA WORKERS
On 6 November 1997, First Deputy Defense Minister
Nikolay Mikhaylov arrived in Bolshoy Kamen to meet with the Zvezda Shipyard
strike committee. The meeting, which occurred one week after the
shipyard workers protested on 29 October 1999, left both sides dissatisfied.
Workers had marched through the largest villages near Bolshoy Kamen demanding
work, ten months of back wages, and basic social services.[1,2] Two-thirds
of the employees at Zvezda are on mandatory leave, while the others have
a shortened working week.[2] Workers were displeased when Mikhaylov
accused management of not making a fast enough transition from military
to civilian shipbuilding, since they consider the government responsible
for their problems. The Ministry of Defense has still not paid for
nuclear submarine repairs completed in 1996.[1]
9/23/97: GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS VISIT ZVEZDA
B. Sidorov, deputy director of the Russian Security
Council's economic security administration and B. Ilin, head of the Security
Council's defense industry department paid a visit to Bolshoy Kamen to
study the dismantlement of decommissioned nuclear submarines. The
Russian Navy has more than 100 nuclear submarines awaiting dismantlement.
After a detailed examination of the Zvezda Shipyard, the guests conducted
a conference that included the participation of the First Deputy Governor
K. Tolstoshein, chair of the regional defense industry administration A.
Polusmak, Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet Vice-Admiral N. Lysenko,
Zvezda Director V. Maslakov, and industry specialists. At the meeting,
Zvezda strike committee representative I. Rogovoy told the Security Council
representatives that if Zvezda employees did not receive at least part
of the back wages owed to them by September 1997, they would go on an indefinite
strike in October 1997. In response to this announcement, the council
promised to communicate what they had seen and heard to the leaders of
the country. At the same time, the council expressed the opinion
that organizing nuclear submarine dismantlement at Zvezda certainly would
make it possible to solve the problem of employment as well as a majority
of other social issues.
7/17/97: ANALYSIS OF MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
UNDERTAKEN
A government commission headed by Oleg Yefimov, a
leader from the Department of Strategic Defense of the Russian Ministry
of Economy is conducting a comprehensive analysis of the business affairs
of the military-industrial complex in the Primorskiy Kray. The commission
began its analysis in Vladivostok, where it was scheduled to visit several
defense industries, including the Zvezda Shipyard. The goal of the
commission is to ease social tensions, develop measures for defense conversion,
and preserve jobs.[1] While at the Zvezda Shipyard, Yefimov confirmed
that the government can only guarantee payment for 30 percent of the 1997
work orders.[2] Although the government commission brought to Zvezda
an additional 10 billion rubles (approximately $17 million as of 17 July
1997) to cancel wage debts from 1996,[2,3] further payment of wages and
the end of the workers' strike there remain uncertain.[2]
7/15/97: ZVEZDA WORKERS RECEIVE WAGES BUT CONTINUE
TO PROTEST
On 15 July 1997, Zvezda's 4,500 workers received
1.5 million rubles each (approximately $260) as payment for November 1996
wages, but the indefinite strike started on 1 July 1997 continued.
In total, Primorskiy Kray received 10 billion rubles, but Zvezda workers
only received about seven billion rubles.[1,2] In addition, on 7
July 1997, the Primorskiy Kray administration made a 600 million-ruble
interest-free loan (approximately $100,000) to the Zvezda Shipyard to pay
for food distributed to the workers.[3] The Russian Navy owes Zvezda
over 300 billion rubles (approximately $51 million), which includes more
than 60 billion rubles of wages (approximately $10 million). Without
guaranteed government orders, the future of the Zvezda workers is uncertain.[4]
Zvezda trade union leader Olga Skripko indicated the seriousness of the
situation and noted that mechanic Vladimir Ivashev, an unpaid and desperate
Zvezda worker who threatened to sabotage a nuclear submarine, is not the
only one considering such action.[5] At a protest rally, Zvezda workers
called the current crisis in Russia "genocide" carried out by the government.
The labor union leaders demanded that the General Prosecutor bring criminal
charges against President Yeltsin and the federal government.[4]
Presidential Representative to the Far East Lieutenant General Viktor Kondratov
informed the workers that a special federal commission would be appointed
to resolve the wage problem.[5] Workers have demanded that this commission
visit the Primorskiy Kray and decide the future of defense enterprises.[1]
According to Kondratov, possible solutions for Zvezda are defense conversion
and repair work on foreign submarines.[1] He told reporters that
partial conversion is imminent and that joint ventures must be established.[2]
4/23/97: WORKERS PROTEST AT SUBMARINE REPAIR PLANT
Workers at the Zvezda Shipyard in Bolshoy Kamen threatened
to take the director of the plant, V. Maslakov, hostage unless they received
payment of back wages. The workers picketed and encircled the facility,
preventing materials from leaving the plant. Workers have not received
wages since the end of September. The government owes the workers over
150 billion rubles for repairing and scrapping of decommissioned submarines
by order of the state.
4/16/97: PLAN TO CONSTRUCT
FLOATING LIQUID RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY IN BOLSHOY KAMEN
VIOLATES ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
In a letter to State Environmental Committee (Goskomekologiya)
Chair V.I. Danilov-Danilyan, Russian Duma Environmental Committee Chair
T.V. Zolotnikova notes that an examination of a government environmental
impact study on constructing a floating liquid radioactive waste processing
facility at Bolshoy Kamen found that the project violates Russian environmental
law on four counts. First, the project lacks a solution for long-term
storage of solid radioactive waste, a violation of article 34, paragraph
1 of the Russian law On environmental protection. Second,
the project violates article 54, paragraph 5 of the same law because it
foresees prolonged storage of radioactive waste at the Zvezda Shipyard,
which is located 1-2km from apartment buildings, a children's camp, and
other public facilities. Third, the project does not include coordination
with the region as stipulated by article 54, paragraph 2 of the same law.
Fourth, the project was not discussed with the local population, which
violates article 41, paragraph 2 of the law On environmental protection,
article 28 of the Land Code, and article 14 of the law On environmental
impact studies. Despite these violations and other serious observations
introduced by the environmental impact study, the expert commission that
conducted the study endorsed the project, which, in turn, violates article
16, paragraph 5 of the Russian law On environmental impact studies.
Zolotnikova requests that Danilov-Danilyan review Goskomekologiya's decision
on the conclusion of the government environmental impact study, take measures
to bring the project into compliance with Russian law, and inform the Russian
Duma Environmental Committee about the decision.
3/5/97: ZVEZDA SUBMARINE REPAIR WORKERS GO ON
STRIKE
Submarine repairmen of the Zvezda Shipyard in Bolshoy
Kamen went on strike, congregating before the administrative building to
petition backlogged wages and to demand the government's resignation.[1]
Within three hours, some 2,000 strikers obstructed the Vladivostok-Nakhodka
highway. According to the mayor of Bolshoy Kamen, Anatoliy Karasev,
the Ministry of Defense owes Zvezda more than 100 billion rubles (approximately
$17. 5 million as of 6 March 1997.)[2]
9/16/96: STRIKE AT ZVEZDA
Workers of the Zvezda submarine dismantlement facility
launched an indefinite strike. At the outset, the workers formulated a
manifesto which included an address to the President requesting a special
inspection of the region.
8/8/96: DECISION TO TAKE ZVEZDA'S ASSETS TO PAY
FOR ITS DEBTS
A court seized the assets of the Zvezda Shipyard,
planning to sell some of them to pay the facility's debt to its suppliers,
reported Interfax. The shipyard owed more than 36 billion rubles
($6.8 million), including 6 billion rubles to the water company which initiated
the court's action. Zvezda Director V. Maslakov stated that the shipyard
itself is owed more than 80 billion rubles, including 17 billion owed by
the government.[1] A 1994 statement issued by Zvezda authorities pointed
out that cash shortages directly impact the ability to maintain adequate
safety levels. Zvezda's medical facility and possibly its computers and
vehicles will be sold to help pay out its $7 million debt to its suppliers.
[2]
5/13/96: NHK REPORT ON DEADLOCKED NUCLEAR SUBMARINE
DISMANTLING
On 13 May 1996, Japan's NHK General Television Network
broadcast a March 1996 report on a state-run nuclear submarine dismantling
plant in Bolshoy Kamen city near Vladivostok. According to the report,
the plant pays its workers in bread due to the government's non-payment
of funds for dismantling of nuclear submarines. In the last six months,
almost 1,000 workers have left the plant because of non-payment. Metal-cutting
machines supplied by the US go unused because their liquid oxygen fuel
is too costly. Plans to build a land-based storage facility were abandoned
for lack of funds, and dismantled reactor components float with buoys at
sea. Fuel to heat homes was diverted to heat nuclear submarines; the freezing
of cooling water around reactors could cause radiation leakage. A nuclear
submarine commander said that three retired submarines at Pavlovsk nuclear
submarine base are in critical state with regards to their ability to stay
afloat.
11/2/95: WORKS AT ZVEZDA
Russian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin signed
Edict No.1422, allocating 4.6 billion rubles in 1995 to the State Committee
for the Defense Industry for reconstruction works at the Zvezda floating
liquid radioactive waste reprocessing assembly.
10/15-22/95: HIGH RADIATION LEVELS RECORDED
AT ZVEZDA
Four-hundred and fifty containers of solid radioactive
waste were reported at Bolshoy Kamen with a radioactivity level 20 times
above the allowed limit.
6/10/95: ZVEZDA PLANT RECEIVES EQUIPMENT
Zvezda submarine production plant Zvezda in Bolshoy Kamen received its first shipment of US equipment worth $6 million for
the dismantlement of decommissioned submarines. The equipment was provided
by the Hughes company, and will allow the Zvezda plant to dismantle nine
submarines a year.
3/95: EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES REFURBISHED TO RECYCLE
LIQUID WASTE
The head of the Pacific Fleet's chemical service,
Valeriy Danilyan, stated that two experimental facilities, one at the Zvezda
facility in Bolshoy Kamen Bay and the other at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy,
have been overhauled to recycle liquid radioactive waste.
11/3/94: FINANCE MINISTRY WILL FUND DOCK CONSTRUCTION
It was reported that two ships (the TNT-5 and TNT-27)
filled with radioactive waste were moved from Bolshoy Kamen to Pavlovsk
Bay. Also, the Russian Finance Ministry has reportedly earmarked 2 billion
rubles for the construction of dock facilities at Zvezda for a barge filled
with radioactive waste.
5/94: TANKER IS MOVED FROM BOLSHOY KAMEN BAY TO
PAVLOVSK BAY
A TNT-5 tanker loaded with hundreds of cubic meters
of liquid waste was moved from Bolshoy Kamen Bay to Pavlovsk Bay.
4/2/94: LEAKING TANKER WILL NOT DUMP WASTE INTO
SEA OF JAPAN
It is reported that a TNT-5 tanker moored at the
Zvezda submarine dismantlement plant in Bolshoy Kamen, carrying nuclear
waste from Pacific Fleet nuclear submarines, has developed a leak in its
drainage, pipe, and valve system. Since the last check on 28 December 1993,
radiation levels in the tanker's aft engine have doubled. Experts believe
that if the situation worsens, the Zvezda plant may have to be shut down.
According to the chairman of the Maritime Kray Environmental Protection
Committee, Yevgeniy Stomatyuk, the committee has decided to dump the radioactive
waste in May 1994 into the Sea of Japan in order to avert an ecological
disaster. Gosatomnadzor officials have stated, however, that the radioactive
waste will not be dumped into the sea and that the waste will be moved
to tankers in good condition.
Bolshoy Kamen
The Vostok Shipyard is located next to Zvezda Shipyard
in Bolshoy Kamen. New nuclear submarines built at the Komsomolsk-na-Amure
facility were sent to Vostok for completion of outfitting. As a result
of the discontinuation of nuclear submarine construction at Komsomolsk-na-Amure,
the Vostok Shipyard has undergone conversion to other activities.
3/97: FAR EAST RECEIVES NEW SHIP
The Far Eastern Maritime Shipping Line received a
new ship, the Amur, the first in a series of general purpose transport
ships. The Amur was launched at the Komsomolsk-na-Amure shipyard and outfitted
at the Vostok shipyard in Primorskiy Kray. Both facilities are defense
enterprises and once constructed nuclear submarines. That activity has
ceased. With no state orders forthcoming and shipbuilding cheaper abroad,
the Far Eastern Shipping Line’s placement of an order "was a matter of
principle," reported the Russian Television Network on 28 February 1997.
The Amur, which has a computerized control system and can transport timber
and other freight, is the first in a series. The Komsomolsk shipbuilders
are two-thirds finished with the next ship, the Ussuri.
Page last updated 4 August 2003
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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