SOCHI, May 23. /TASS/. Russian experts will study within next three years the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago’s bays and two sunken nuclear submarines - Komsomolets and K-159, the Typhoon Research and Production Association’s representative Margarita Katkova told TASS.
The works will be organized under the state program on the Arctic zone’s development. The government will allocate about 87 million rubles ($1.3 million) for the first year, she said.
"Under the Arctic zone’s social and economic development program, we plan the following research works: in 2020 and 2021 we shall study Novaya Zemlya’s bays, and in 2021 and 2023 - we shall observe sunken nuclear submarines - Komsomolets and K-159," she said. "The financing for 2020 will be about 87 million rubles, and financing for the other years is to be advised."
"The main objectives is to observe, monitor and analyze the impact on the environment," she said on the fringes of a Russian-Norwegian meeting on radioactive pollution in the northern areas. The meeting took place in Russia’s Sochi.
The Typhoon Scientific-Production Association is a leading state-run research institution of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, Roshydromet.
The K-278 Komsomolets nuclear submarine sank in the Norwegian Sea at 1,600 meters after a fire on April 7, 1989. The K-159 submarine sank on August 30, 2003 on the way from the Kola Bay.