| Soviet
Subs Refitted as Tankers?
Yahoo
News
Posted May 15, 2003
 OSLO,
Norway (Reuters) - Once the pride of the Soviet navy, nuclear
submarines could be refitted for a more humdrum life as oil
tankers in the Arctic, according to a Russian regional governor.
"We
see it as very economic and realistic to use atomic submarines
for transporting oil and gas," Anatoly Yefremov, the
governor of Archangelsk northern region, was quoted Wednesday
as saying by Norwegian NRK public radio.
He
told a seminar in northern Norway that submarines, of the
Typhoon class depicted in Tom Clancy's spy thriller "The
Hunt for Red October," could carry about 10,000 tons
of oil if missile launch rooms were converted into tanks.
This
is small compared with 280,000 tons which a VLCC (Very Large
Crude Carrier) carries.
Russia
is seeking to develop oil and gas fields in the Arctic where
tankers risk colliding with iceberg or being buffeted by fierce
winter storms. Submarines could be less risky by escaping
the rough weather.
But
environmentalists rejected the proposal as too costly and
dangerous. One of the main yards for building submarines is
at Severodinsk, near the city of Archangelsk.
"The consequences of an accident with a nuclear submarine
filled with oil would be much more dramatic than a normal
oil tanker," said Nils Boehmer, a nuclear scientist who
works for Norwegian environmental group Bellona.
"It
could be very difficult to go in and clean up any spill because
of radiation from the reactors," he said.
He
said Russia had six Typhoon submarines, two of which were
currently being dismantled with U.S. funding, adding he was
surprised Yefremov was reviving the idea of using submarines
for oil, an idea suggested after the Cold War.
"There
are no surplus submarines lying around waiting for new missions
because they will be dismantled," he said. "This
would be a very expensive way of carrying oil and 10,000 tons
is relatively small capacity."
Boehmer
said that Russia tested civilian uses for submarines in the
1990s -- in 1995, a Victor class submarine delivered a load
of potatoes and fruit east along the coast of Siberia to the
Yamal peninsula.
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