Extraction of Nuclear Fuel from Kursk Submarine to Begin at End of January

Spent nuclear fuel from the reactor modules of the Kursk nuclear submarine will be extracted on board the Imandra floating technical support vessel, belonging to the Murmansk Shipping Company, towards the end of January. According to the Murmansk Shipping Company's press office, the Imandra is designed to provide complex servicing of nuclear vessels with spent nuclear fuel and is equipped with special storage facilities.

After the spent nuclear fuel has been extracted from the Kursk's reactors and cooled in special refrigeration units on the Imandra, it will be transferred to the Lotta floating technical support vessel. This vessel is able to store up to 16 reactor cores from nuclear ice-breakers. When this work is completed, the fuel will be sent by rail to the Mayak plant in the Chelyabinsk Region.

The Nerpa shipyard, where the Kursk is currently being held, believes that the work will be completed this year. The estimated total cost of decommissioning the Kursk is 228 million roubles (USD 7.2 million), of which the operation to extract the spent fuel will account for 58 million roubles (USD 1.8).