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Griffiths Hails Cold War Legacy Clean Up - Minister Visits
North-West Russia To See "Red October" Submarines Dismantled
Department of Trade and Industry of the United Kingdom
February 24, 2004

Trade and Industry Minister, Nigel Griffiths, today visited the site of two former Soviet nuclear submarines to view a dismantling scheme that will have positive environmental and security benefits globally. The DTI-funded clean up work, worth £11.5m, is part of a wider multinational partnership designed to counter proliferation, nuclear safety and ecological concerns in the former Soviet Union.

Mr Griffiths is the first UK Minister to visit the Zvezdochka Shipyard in Severodvinsk, North-West Russia and will look at the progress of the project - the biggest example of UK-Russian cooperation under the G8 Global Partnership. The scheme, which started in December 2003 and is expected to be completed in autumn this year, will ensure that two, 12,000 tonne nuclear powered submarines are safely dismantled.

Mr Griffiths said:

"We've worked hard with our G8 partners to start to tackle the challenges that the cold war nuclear legacy poses. There are serious security, environmental and proliferation threats that need to be very carefully managed and today I am seeing an example of the excellent work being done to meet the threat head on."

In 2002, G8 leaders pledged to provide up to $20 billion over ten years for a new global partnership against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Prime Minister announced that the UK would make up to $750 million available to fund projects in pursuit of the partnership's aims and this year alone three separate projects are underway at Atomflot, Andreyeva Bay and Severodvinsk with a total cost of £40m. Three UK firms and a small DTI team have contributed technical and consultancy support to the Russian shipyard team.

Mr Griffiths added:

" We're addressing this problem in Russia because, if ignored, it has the potential to have a serious impact on the lives of UK citizens."

Notes to Editors:

* Two Oscar-1 Class Nuclear Powered Multi Purpose Submarines, nos 605 and 606, "The Murmansk" and "The Archangel" are being dismantled. They weigh 12,000 tonnes and are over 150 feet long and were launched in 1980. Each submarine will take 6 months to dismantle.
* Further information on the UK G8 Global Partnership projects is available at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/nuclear/fsu/index.shtml

* The G8 Global Partnership 2003 Annual Report was published in December by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Defence. It is available at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/nuclear/fsu/newsevents/Publications/First_annual_report.pdf.

* UK Funded Work in NW Russia

£2M so far on Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel stocks at Andreeva Bay, a former waste nuclear materials site for the Russian Navy.

£6-8M on a Spent Nuclear Fuel storage facility at Atomflot, Murmansk.

£0.1M so far on Development of technical flotation solutions for transportation and storage of decommissioned submarines (funded jointly with the US and Norway - Arctic Military Environment Cooperation.

£10M Contribution to the EU Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (to fund further environmental projects in North West Russia).