MOSCOW, December 30 (Itar-Tass) —— Nine people were injured in fighting the fire, which broke out onboard the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine on Thursday at the shipyard in a planned repairs in the Murmansk Region. Two emergency workers and seven servicemen were hospitalized with carbon dioxide poisoning, a source in the regional law enforcement agencies told Itar-Tass by phone.
“There is no threat for an explosion or radiation contamination. The rescue operation continues,” the source said.
The fire onboard the nuclear submarine was localized at 01:40 Moscow time, a source in the Ministry of Emergency Situations told Itar-Tass earlier.
The radiation level is normal at the fire site onboard the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine, a source in the information department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.
“The radiation monitoring is made by 59 permanent detectors and 25 portable control posts. According to their indicators, the radiation level is normal,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the firemen keep pouring water and foam on the burning submarine.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin dispatched acting Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and the chief of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Roman Trotsenko to the fire site onboard the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine in the Murmansk Region. Rogozin has made an entry in his Twitter micro blog about the incident.
“I sent acting Minister of Industry and Trade Manturov and the chief of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Trotsenko to Murmansk overnight to Friday. I reported to the president and the prime minister about the real situation,” he wrote down. Meanwhile, Rogozin noted that Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Vladimir Vysotsky and Commander of the Northern Fleet Vice-Admiral Vladimir Korolev already arrived at the incident site.
A criminal case was opened over the fire onboard the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine, a source in the Russian Investigative Committee told Itar-Tass on Friday. The Investigative Committee reported that the construction garbage caught fire in the dry dock of the 82nd shipyard, where the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine underwent the repairs, at about 16:20 Moscow time in Roslyakovo in the Murmansk Region.
Governor of the Murmansk Region Dmitry Dmitriyenko told Itar-Tass earlier that both reactors were halted by the time the fire broke out onboard the nuclear submarine. Dmitriyenko noted that no threat of radiation contamination exists, the situation is completely under control.
The fire was prevented from spreading inside the nuclear submarine, no threat exists for the onboard technical equipment of the nuclear submarine, spokesman of the Western Military District for the Northern Fleet Captain First Rank Vadim Serga said. “During the hot works wooden scaffolds around the nuclear submarine caught fire. The fire spread on a light external hull. The fire spread was ruled out inside the submarine, there is no threat for onboard technical equipment,” he noted. The Russian Defence Ministry also noted that all weapons were removed from the submarine before putting in the dock.
The K-84 Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine is a strategic nuclear missile-carrying underwater cruiser of 667BDRM Delphin project and is a model the second generation of Russian nuclear submarines. This nuclear submarine is based in Gadzhiyevo, the Northern Fleet.
The submarine was built at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk and was put into service of the Russian Navy on December 30, 1985. The Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine is 166 meters long, 12 meters wide and has a full water displacement of about 19,000 tonnes. The nuclear submarine has four 533-mm nose torpedo launchers (the warfare of the submarine is 12 torpedoes SAET-60M, 53-65M, PLUR RPK-6 Vodopad), and instead of several torpedoes 24 mines can be installed. The weaponry of the nuclear submarine includes 16 ballistic missiles R-29RM and from four to eight air defence systems 9K310 Igla-1/9K38 Igla.