On April 7, 1989, a Russian nuclear submarine sank off the coast of Norway after a fire broke out on board as a result of a short circuit. At the time, the submarine was carrying with it two nuclear torpedoes, which it took into the cold depths of the Arctic Ocean. To date, neither the submarine nor its weapons have been recovered from the water, and the Cold War-era wreck appears to have been leaking radioactive material ever since.
The Russian submarine, designated K-278 Komsomolets, was a nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Soviet Navy. It entered service in 1983 and was one of the first submarines to feature a titanium hull, allowing it to dive much deeper than its competitors. This submarine could reach depths below 914 meters. K-278 was the only one of its type to enter service.
And a fatal accident occurs
At the time of the fatal accident, K-278 was on a routine patrol 180 kilometers southeast of Bear Island, off the coast of Norway. It was approximately 152-381 meters below the surface when a fire broke out in the aft compartment (at the back), causing a series of electrical problems on the submarine within minutes. As a result, the pressurized water reactor powering K-278 quickly shut down.
The crew battled the fire for several hours, but eventually the entire submarine was submerged and sank to the seabed. Of the 69 crew members aboard the submarine at the time, only 27 survived. Many died of hypothermia while waiting to be rescued in the freezing sea.
For more than 30 years, K-278 and its nuclear torpedoes have been lying at the bottom of the ocean in one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. During this time, seawater gradually eroded the ship’s hull and the casings surrounding the nuclear warheads, leaking radioactive material into the surrounding ocean.
In 2019, Norwegian researchers reported that some samples taken from water at the K-278 wreck site had radiation levels approximately 800,000 times higher than normal for the Norwegian Sea. Samples of radioactive cesium (cesium-137) were collected from the ventilation shaft on the sunken ship by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Although this rate seems extremely high, it is worth noting that high values were not observed in other samples taken at that time.
It is not known whether the contamination came from the nuclear reactor or the torpedoes. However, Norwegian researchers do not think there is any need to be alarmed yet.
Since the early 1990s, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) and the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) have been monitoring and testing the waters around the wreck. The leakage that has occurred so far is at levels that will not harm the environment. This is mostly because the ship is so deep that the pollution will dilute before it becomes dangerous.
According to modeling work carried out by IMR, even if all of the radioactive cesium in K-278 were to leak out at once, the impact on surrounding marine life would be negligible.
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