Federal Atomic Energy Agency News

An explosion on a decommissioned nuclear submarine being cut up for scrap metal at a northern Russian shipyard killed at least one person and seriously injured another, an emergency official said Monday. According to the Associated Press, the blast at the Zvyozdochka plant on the White Sea took place at 8:32 a.m. aboard a submarine that had already been stripped of its nuclear fuel and reactors, said Igor Grigoriyev, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry in the Arkhangelsk region. Officials at the Defense Ministry and the Federal Atomic Energy Agency said they had no information on the incident. Shipyards officials could not be reached for comment. Russian news reports said the submarine was a Victor-class vessel that normally has two reactors on board.