Pavlovsk Bay Russian Submarine base

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Russia: Pavlovsk Bay

LOCATION: Eastern shore of Strelok Bay, across from Dunay (Shkotovo-22)
SUBORDINATION: Ministry of Defense
ACTIVITIES:
Pavlovsk Bay is the home of the 26th nuclear submarine division, a submarine unit that is part of the Pacific Fleet's Primorskiy Kray Flotilla, also known as the Fourth Flotilla. The division was formed 40 years ago, and became part of the flotilla in 1978. The flotilla was reduced in size in the mid-90s; in May 2000, the Russian General Staff directed the navy to disband the 26th division.

Decommissioned submarines are kept in Pavlovsk Bay as well, including three Pacific Fleet submarines with damaged fuel (hull numbers 541, 175, and 610). Sealed reactor compartments from defueled and partially dismantled nuclear submarines are kept here as well, until Russia develops a plan for their long-term storage.[2] According to a 1995 Russian study, 19 nuclear submarines (all with functioning reactors still on board) were docked at the facility awaiting defueling and dismantlement.[3] As of September 1997, this number had grown to 21 nuclear submarines with fuel still aboard.[4] A December 2000 study indicated that the number had dropped to 16, all with fuel aboard.[8] In July 1999, the Nuklid organization, which is subordinate to Minatom, began to take over monitoring of decommissioned submarines at Pavlovsk Bay.[5]

Pavlovsk Bay is the home port of several PM-124 class (PM-80, PM-125, PM-133) service ships. These ships hold 1,680 spent fuel assemblies, including 118 damaged fuel assemblies on the PM-80. The PM-133, also known as TNT-16, was contaminated during rescue efforts that followed the 10 August 1985 incident during which the reactor of K-314, an Echo II (Project 675) SSN, caught fire and vented radiation in Chazhma Bay.[6,7,8] Two technical support ships also operate at the facility, the TNT-5 and TNT-27.[8,9,10]

Radiation levels in the bay are elevated in two locations. The highest levels (over 0.6 mR/hour, with cesium levels three to 12 times ambient levels and cobalt levels seven to 15 times above ambient levels) are near a submarine that, in December 1985, suffered a serious accident in the core, causing coolant from the first circuit to leak into the reactor compartment, which resulted in releases of radiation into the environment for two weeks. Levels are also elevated near two other submarines with damaged reactors that are now also docked in Pavlovsk Bay: up to 1.4 mGy/hour near K-314, the SSN that caught fire and vented radiation in Chazhma Bay on 10 August 1985, and up to .005 mGy/hour near the other vessel, which suffered an accident in Pavlovsk Bay (date not reported). K-314 continues to be a source of cobalt-60 contamination, while the other submarine is still emitting cesium-137 and strontium-90.[8]
Sources:
[1] "Komandovaniye VMF do sikh por ne znayet, kak rasporyaditsya byvshey bazoy atomnykh podvodnykh lodok v bukhte Pavlovskogo na Tikhom okeane," Agenstvo voennykh novostey, 12 October 2000; in Integrum Techno, www.integrum.ru.
[2] Joshua Handler "Russia’s Pacific Fleet -- Submarine Bases and Facilities," Jane's Intelligence Review, April 1994, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 166-171.
[3] Study by V.A. Danilian and V.L. Vysotsky, cited in Joshua Handler, "The Russian Naval Nuclear Complex," in Busmann, Meier, and Nassauer, eds., The Nuclear Legacy of the Former Soviet Union: Implications for Security and Ecology, BITS Research Report 97.1, November 1997, p. 33.
[4] Nina Kolesnichenko and Viktor Korytko, "Grozit li Primoryu yadernaya opasnost? Atomnyye reaktory s chasovym mekhanizmom," Vladivostok, No. 173, 16 September 1997, pp. 1, 11. {Updated 11/22/99 TR}
[5] CNS interview with Russian scientist, Monterey, 20 September 1999, RUS990920.{Updated 3/20/2000 CC; 12/02/2000 EH}
[6] E. A. Goriglejan, Design Support to Minimize the Risk of the Environmental Impact of Damaged Nuclear Steam Generating Plants of Russian Nuclear Submarines During Their Long-Term Storage in Sarcophaguses. Advanced Research Workshop on Analysis of Risks Associated with Nuclear Submarine Decommissioning, Dismantling, and Disposal (Moscow: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997).
[7] Y. V.Sivintsev, V. L. Visotsky, et al., "Radioecological Consequences of a Radiation Accident in a Nuclear-Powered Submarine in Chazhma Cove." Russian Journal of Atomic Energy, Vol. 76, No. 2 (1994), pp.157-160.
[8] V.A. Danilyan, V.L.Vysotskiy, A.A. Maksimov, and Yu. V. Sivintsev, "Vliyaniye utilizatsii atomnykh podvodnykh lodok na radioekologicheskuyu obstonovku v Dalnevostochnom regione," Atomnaya energiya, Vol. 89, No. 6 (December 2000), pp. 454-474.
[9] "Nuclear Wastes in the Arctic: An Analysis of Arctic and Other Regional Impacts From Soviet Nuclear Contamination," OTA-ENV-623 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, September 1995), pp. 121, 140.
[10] Joshua Handler, "Russia's Pacific Fleet: Problems With Nuclear Waste," Jane's Intelligence Review, March 1995, p. 137.{Updated 6/15/2001 CC}