Kursk Salvage Planned
A top Russian official said Monday that the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk would be raised in a three-month operation, tentatively set to begin in late July.
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who heads the commission investigating the Kursk tragedy, said Russia and the Dutch and Norwegian firms taking part in the operation were to sign an agreement May 20 in St. Petersburg.
The Kursk was one of Russia's most modern nuclear submarines. It exploded and sank during maneuvers in the Barents Sea last summer, killing all 118 crewmen.
The government has not released any official explanation of what caused the disaster. Most foreign experts say the most likely cause was an internal malfunction, such as a torpedo misfiring and sparking an explosion.
However, the government has not officially ruled out the theory that the Kursk collided with another vessel, possibly a foreign submarine. Klebanov's committee is scheduled to hold its final meeting to discuss possible causes on Saturday, NTV said.
Klebanov's commission is considering three theories: a collision with a foreign submarine, a collision with a World War II-era mine, or the detonation of a faulty torpedo.
Russian experts say it could cost up to $80 million to raise the shattered Kursk.
"The Russian government guarantees 100 percent payment for this operation," Klebanov told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and other officials.
He said the Kursk Foundation, an international fund-raising group, would compensate the government with whatever money it collects. NTV put that figure at only a few thousand dollars.
Russian news reports have said a lack of funds has delayed the operation to raise the submarine, which it is estimated will cost between $70 million and $80 million.
A Kursk Foundation representative in Brussels, Belgium, refused comment.
Two nuclear reactors and some 22 missiles are still on the 14,000-ton submarine, which lies 356 feet below the surface of the Barents Sea off the Russian coast. Twelve bodies were recovered in a salvage operation last year, but conditions were too dangerous to recover more.
A crane capable of lifting 440,000 tons and a pontoon barge will be used to raise the Kursk, NTV reported. Foreign firms will help lift all but the first compartment of the submarine, the most heavily damaged, the ITAR-Tass news agency said, citing unnamed sources. Only Russians would take part in lifting the first compartment.
Klebanov said earlier this year that the submarine's mangled torpedo compartment would be cut away from the vessel and left on the sea floor to minimize the possibility of further explosions.
The operation will be concluded by Sept. 20, he said Monday.
The plan to lift the Kursk has provoked controversy n Russia. Some of the crewmen's families have said they would prefer to follow the naval tradition of burying their dead at sea.
Environmental groups have said lifting the Kursk would risk a possible breakup of the vessel, rupture of the protective casings around the reactors and a radioactive spill.
But Kremlin officials accept its recovery must go ahead because of a public promise to do so by President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin chief was heavily criticized for failing to cut short his holiday immediately to take personal control of the rescue operation when disaster struck. The furor, however, failed to dent his massive popularity.
At a Moscow summit this week, the European Union is likely to offer Russia millions of dollars if it signs a clean-up pact to deal with nuclear waste. This includes reactors from decommissioned submarines and spent fuel rods in northern Russia and the Kola peninsula.
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