Seven ships of the Zeya class were to have been built for the transportation of liquid radioactive waste. This class is very similar in construction to the Vala class. All of them are reputed to be radioactively contaminated and in poor technical condition. None of the ships are in service at this time.[276]

Technical data[277]

The Vala class ships were built in Vyborg and Vladivostok in the period 1964-1971.

Storage capacity

870 m³. Maximum permissible radiation level is 10^-5 curies per liter. [278]

Individual vessels:

Northern Fleet:

TNT-8.

Decommissioned.[279]

TNT-12.

Ship normally based at naval yard no.10. Shkval in Polyarny. [280]

TNT-19.

TNT-25

Ship based in Severodvinsk. [281] It has an increased storage capacity for a total of 950 m³.

TNT-29.

Pacific Fleet:[282]

TNT-5.

Ship based at Bolshoy Kamen, Vladivostok. [283] In November 1995, liquid radioactive waste amounting to 800 m³ was transferred to TNT-27.[284]

TNT-17.

TNT-27.

Ship based at Bolshoy Kamen, Vladivostok. [285] It is in very poor condition.[286]

TNT-42

Additionally, two TNT type ships were dumped in the Kara sea in 1973 and 1980. Both had the designation TNT-15 [287] and are either of the Project 1783 A - Vala class or the slightly older Zeya class of storage ships.

Foto, 62 kb.
One of the Northern Fleet's Project 1783 A type service ships moored at Atomflot, the base in the Murmansk Fjord for the civilian nuclear icebreaker fleet. Atomflot has a purification plant for liquid radioactive waste and also has the capacity to process similar such waste from the Northern Fleet. The Northern Fleet has five Project 1783 A service ships, all of which are in very poor technical condition.

Foto, 47 kb. Map, 20 kb.
Until 1991, the Northern Fleet used service ships of this class to dump liquid radioactive waste at five different dumping areas in the Barents Sea, see map above.

Endnotes

[274] Jane`s Intelligence Review, December 1993. Return
[275] Pavlov, A. S., Military Vessels in the Soviet Union and Russia 1945 - 1995, 1994 Return
[276] Jane`s Fighting Ships 1995 - 96, 98th edition. Return
[277] Pavlov, A. S., Military Vessels in the Soviet Union and Russia 1945 - 1995, 1994. Return
[278] Perovsky, V. A., Handbook presented to the Murmansk County Committee for Ecology and Natural Resources, 1992. Return
[279] Mormul, N. Note, 1995. Return
[280] Jane`s Intelligence Review, December 1993. Return
[281] Perovsky, V. A., Handbook presented to the Murmansk County Committee for Ecology and Natural Resources, 1992. Return
[282] Handler, J., Greenpeace, Radioactive Waste Situation in the Russian Pacific Fleet, Nuclear Waste Disposal Problems, Submarine Decommissioning, Submarine Safety, and Security of Naval Fuel, P. 35, October 27, 1994. Return
[283] Office of Technology Assessment, Nuclear Waste in the Arctic. An Analysis of Arctic and Other Regional Impacts from Soviet Nuclear Contamination, 1995. Return
[284] Nuclear Engineering International, No. 1. - 1996. Return
[285] Office of Technology Assessment, Nuclear Waste in the Arctic. An Analysis of Arctic and Other Regional Impacts from Soviet Nuclear Contamination, 1995. Return
[286] Nuclear Engineering International, No. 1. - 1996. Return
[287] Nilsen, T., and Bøhmer, N., Sources of Radioactive Contamination in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Counties. Bellona Report No.1 :1994, P. 100. Return