Norway Holds Emergency Meeting Regarding Sub
Norway called a meeting of a crisis team for radioactive accidents on Monday, August 14, after technical faults forced a Russian nuclear submarine to run aground on the sea bed off northern Russia. "The crisis commission for atomic accidents has been alerted to the situation, and will meet this afternoon to go over the available information," the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority said. The authority would try to compile all information on the accident, from Russia, other Nordic countries and the Norwegian armed forces, before the meeting of officials in the commission to decide whether any action was needed. Norway has long feared radioactive pollution from its eastern neighbor.
Russian Nuclear Sub Towed Home
A Russian nuclear-powered submarine was towed to port this month after an apparently minor accident in the Barents Sea, where the Kursk sank last year with the loss of 118 lives, Norway said on Wednesday. "We registered that a Victor III class submarine was towed to port...there was nothing to indicate that it was a serious accident," said commander Per Hoiby, a spokesman for the Norwegian armed forces. He said that the submarine had been trailing "smoke or exhaust...It could, for instance, have been a problem with a diesel generator." Nuclear submarines sometimes also use diesel generators. The Kursk submarine sank in the Arctic Barents Sea in August with the loss of all 118 sailors aboard. Hoiby said that the latest accident happened about a week and a half ago.
