Polyarninskiy Shipyard

 shipyard, nuclear waste storage

Also known as Shipyard No. 10, and Shkval, Polyarninskiy Shipyard's activities have included nuclear submarine repairs since the late 1950s. In 1970, the Russian Navy expanded the shipyard, which, as of Spring 1996, included two covered floating docks and covered a surface area of 41,330 square meters. Polyarninskiy repaired approximately 250-first generation nuclear submarines from 1962 to 1993, and is Murmansk Oblast's only shipyard capable of servicing second and third generation submarines.

In March 1996, the shipyard was servicing one nuclear submarine, a type 326 M spent fuel transport ship, and the tanker Amur. In addition, seven nuclear submarines, four of which had been decommissioned and two of which (Victor I class) were still operational, were docked at Polyarninskiy. Money for repairs of the operational Kefal I (NATO Name: Victor I) class submarines is lacking, and they will probably be decommissioned. Polyarninskiy has participated in minimal dismantlement operations, but funding for grander-scale dismantlement is unavailable. Although refueling equipment is available at Polyarninskiy, the future of refueling activities at Polyarninskiy is also uncertain.

Polyarninskiy operates a naval waste storage facility, and two ships store and transport radioactive waste from the yard: the Pinega class Amur and the Vala class TNT-12.

In 1994, Polyarninskiy received a damaged Project 675 [NATO Name: Echo II] class nuclear submarine from Ara Bay, as the facility there did not possess the necessary capabilities to keep the submarine afloat. A chain reaction occurred in one of the two reactors on the Echo II, damaging the reactor's fuel rods and causing high levels of radiation in the reactor compartment. The high radiation levels have delayed the removal of the fuel from the undamaged reactor.