MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax-AVN) - An expedition of the Russian Emergencies Ministry has found new burials of radioactive waste and places where potentially dangerous objects are dumped in the Kara Sea, Deputy Emergencies Minister Mikhail Faleyev said on Friday.
"The expedition found 37 new potentially dangerous objects, including 16 in the Tsivolki Bay. Many of them pose radiation danger," Faleyev told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He recalled that research in the Kara Sea was performed with the help of the Profession Shtokman research ship.
"A modular underwater search and examination laboratory, the AKVA-ChS autonomous TV-controlled underwater system, the SeaLion underwater TV-controlled apparatus, the Sprut-ChS electro-metric system, and radiation control equipment for water areas were used," Faleyev said.
Two burials of solid radioactive waste and seven underwater objects, including a nuclear submarine, were examined in the Tsivolki, Abrosimov, and Stepovoy Bays. The objects are on the list of potentially dangerous underwater objects scuppered in Russia's internal waters and territorial seas.
According to data obtained by the expedition, 554 samples of detritus and 12 samples of water were taken in the Kara Sea for subsequent laboratory analysis. The final report on the basis of comprehensive analysis of obtained data will be ready before December 20.
The deputy minister recalled that the previous expedition of that kind was organized last year. The ministry's experts examined the burials of solid radioactive waste containers and the K-27 nuclear submarine, as well as the likely burial area of the K-254 submarine's reactor section. Obtained data provided for the conclusion that the situation in the burial areas is stable and that the hulls of scuppered vessels and dumped containers preserve impermeability.