By
The Associated Press
OSLO, Norway - With the rescue operation at an end, experts cautioned yesterday that any attempt to raise the sunken Russian nuclear submarine will take at least a year to plan and must be weighed against the environmental risk of a potential radiation leak.
"Theoretically, just lifting a submarine from the seabed should be possible," said Julian Thomson, spokesman for Stolt Offshore oil services company. "But no one has ever lifted a nuclear submarine before, and that opens all kinds of questions."
Thomson, whose company sent deep-sea divers and a sophisticated ship to help with rescue efforts and is discussing the salvage operation with the Russians, said the questions include the state of the two nuclear reactors, torpedoes and other munitions on board.
Norway, which shares land and water borders with Russia has kept a nervous eye on radiation levels in the rich fishing grounds of the Barents Sea near the wreck, so far has recorded no increase. But the country, a member of NATO, has urged Russia to proceed with caution in any salvage operation.
Among other things, experts would have to determine whether the vessel, which was badly damaged in two explosions on Aug. 12, could withstand the pressures of being raised.
"This is no longer a rescue operation. There is no longer a hurry. They need to take the time needed to carefully evaluate the risks," said Per Strand of the government's nuclear protection board. "Any problem (with radiation leaks) would probably be a few decades ahead."
Almost as soon as the British-Norwegian diving team determined that the Kursk was full of water and all 118 aboard were dead, the Russian navy asked Stolt Offshore to assess ways of raising the 14,000-ton submarine.
Thomson said it would take weeks or months for his company to even assess the chances of raising the submarine and that it probably couldn't start until next summer.
"We would need a weather window, and winter is coming," he said. Fierce winter storms often whip the arctic waters where the Kursk now lies under 350 feet of water.
The Norwegian environmental group Bellona, which specializes in the nuclear problems of Russia's Northern Fleet, warned in a report that "the explosions that hit Kursk might very well have caused severe damage to the reactors themselves" or to cooling and control systems.
The fishing industry also was on alert as fears of contaminated fish - even if unfounded - could have consumers shunning that key export in this Nordic nation of 4.5 million.
Bellona joined the nation's fishing industry yesterday in releasing daily reports on radiation levels in fish caught in the Barents Sea. The first sample, taken from a fish captured a day after the Kursk accident, showed no radiation, Bellona said.
Strand said there does not appear to be any immediate radiation risk from the wrecked submarine, and Russian officials have said no nuclear weapons were on board and the submarine's reactors were shut off.
"We have taken samples near and inside the submarine, and have found no traces of a radioactive leak," Strand said. "That is a very good indication that the safety systems worked and the reactors were shut down."
Norway was able to take water samples from inside the Kursk when the deep-sea divers opened its escape hatch to confirm that the crew had died on Monday. Strand said Norway was continuing its monitoring program.
He said there are two options in dealing with the submarine. It could be raised, partly because the Russians want to recover their dead, or it could be left on the ocean floor and covered over, for example with a concrete capsule.
"No matter what they do, it has to be well planned," he said. "Moving the submarine poses its own risks."
