Norwegian officials hamper swift cleanup of old Russian nuke sub base

New delays have arisen in a joint project between Moscow and Oslo to rid the Kola Peninsula of 23,000 spent nuclear fuel assemblies from dismantled submarines and 32 tons of radioactive waste parked 50 kilometers from Norway’s far north border.

The efforts to fully remediate Andreyeva Bay, a former Russian Naval submarine base, have required decades of delicate diplomacy between Russia and the West, and have been hindered by Russian reluctance many times.

But now, the snarl is coming from the Norwegian side, as Gunnar Peder Kjønnøy, governor of Norway’s northerly Finnmark County, insists additional navigational beacons be installed along the route of ships that would carry Andreyeva Bay’s radioactive legacy away, Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s executive director and nuclear physicist, said.

Read more