The Russian state-owned Zvezda ship repair yard at Bolshoi Kamen near Vladivostok has received an $11.5 million contract from the US government to dismantle two nuclear submarines as part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction project being undertaken under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties. The work is expected to take 11 months and a $1.3 million contract may be forthcomming to upgrade a store for disposal of the vessels. Zvezda chief engineer Yuri Shulgan says Washington will finance dismantling of all the old Russian submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles as Russia’s Defence Ministry has been unable to find the money to honour a bilateral agreement to dismantle nuclear weapons.
Cogema Technologies has received a $23.9 million subcontract from Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental Systems, which is contracted to the US Defence Special Weapons Agency to provide a solid radwaste treatment process and waste characterisation services for stabilising radwaste at Zvezda and at the Zvezdochka (formerly Severodvinsk) shipyard in the Arctic. The main contract, which is for turnkey low-level radwaste reduction plants at the two submarine dismantling facilities, also involves Association Aspect of Moscow which has developed a liquid volume reduction system, Kvaerner Maritime of Norway which is providing construction, transportation, and logistics, and Booz Allen & Hamilton which has experience in Russian regulatory compliance.
