Taimyr Nucelar Icebreaker Rescue Mission Underway

Saw this on RSOE site:

hisz.rsoe.hu... --Initial Report, also two updates so far

From Initial Report:

The incident is by Rosatomflot said to be an event on level "zero" on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Level "zero" means there are no essential threats to the people onboard or to the outside environment. The exact time of the incident is not reported, but the icebreaker is now said to be on its way back from the Yenisei river towards Murmansk. Estimated sailing time is five days so “Taimyr” will be in port in Murmansk late Sunday or early Monday. "Taimyr" will sail from Yenisei towards the Kara Sea and cross over the eastern part of the Barents Sea before sailing in the Kola bay towards Murmansk. Russia’s nuclear powered icebreaker fleet has its homeport at RTP Atomflot, in the northern part of Murmansk, the world’s largest city above the Arctic Circle with 309,000 inhabitants. A short press-release posted by Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, says the leakage was detected during a planned shutdown of the reactor onboard. At the moment, there are strengthened monitoring of the technological parameters of the reactor. When the reactor is being shut down, the icebreaker will sail with power supply from the diesel-generators onboard. "Taimyr" was built in Finland and commissioned in 1989. The icebreaker is especially designed for operation in shallow waters in the Yenisei river from the Kara Sea to the port of Dudinka. It is unclear if Norwegian authorities are informed about the radioactive leakage incident in Russia. Norway and Russia have an agreement on informing each other in case of incidents and accidents. - I have not heard about it, says Anne Marit Østreng, head of information with the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authorities when called by BarentsObserver for a comment Thursday morning. In the department of emergency preparedness no one answered the phone.

From second update:

Russia launched an urgent rescue mission Thursday after one its atom-powered icebreakers developed a nuclear leak in the frozen seas of the Arctic and was forced to abandon its mission. The Rosatomflot nuclear fleet said in a statement that “insignificant increase in activity” had been reported on board its Taimyr icebreaker. But the incident was serious enough to force the mammoth vessel to abandon its mission and try to track its way back to port in the northwestern city of Murmansk. “What we are most concerned about right now is movement along the waterways,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted top Rosatomflot official Andrei Smirnov as saying. The fleet official said another icebreaker was being dispatched to the region to help the vessel’s journey back to port. The incident was reported in the Kara Sea – a part of the Arctic Ocean that rests about 2,000 kilometers east of Norway’s border. Officials said the increased levels of radiation were initially reported in and the air ventilation system surrounding the nuclear reactor core.

They added that radiation levels remained normal outside the outer protecting covering. But other details – including how many people were on board the ship – remained unclear and one part of the Russian statement suggested that officials were looking into the possibility of the situation becoming more serious. “If the situation deteriorates, the reactor system will be shut down and the cooling process will begin,” Rosatomflot said. Rosatomflot stressed that the seriousness of the event at the moment could be registered as a zero on the seven-point International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale – a level officially defined as “bearing no safety significance.”

The Arctic sea accident revived memories of the Kursk nuclear submarine disaster that claimed the lives of 118 Rusisan sailors in August 2000. Russian officials were painfully slow to acknowledge the scale of that disaster and state television only began devoting full attention to it nearly 48 hours after the Kursk blasts went off. No information about the nuclear leak had appeared on Russian state television within three hours of the initial report.

Interesting that they classify it as a zero on the danger scale, but refer to the Kursk disaster.

Also, I had no idea that there were nuclear powered icebreakers.

Helluva way to find out!

Another incident they will play down. Good Find! S&F

Can someone explain to me why all these nuclear "accidents" are all happening now? I mean seriously.

reply to post by ToxicAngel


Because this is the type of story that is selling newspapers and getting viewers just now. The situation in Japan has made people more vigilant of anything to do with nuclear.

Originally posted by shmo5
reply to post by ToxicAngel

 

Because this is the type of story that is selling newspapers and getting viewers just now. The situation in Japan has made people more vigilant of anything to do with nuclear.

True and False.

False because it isn't exactly in many newspapers.

True because Japan has made many of us more vigilant towards nuclear accidents. However the reality unfolding before us is that these nuclear accidents have been happening quite frequently in all kinds of manners since the nuclear age began.

After reviewing the history of nuclear accidents, it becomes clear this type of disaster scenario is far more commonplace than anyone really realized. It's quite concerning.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

After reviewing the history of nuclear accidents, it becomes clear this type of disaster scenario is far more commonplace than anyone really realized. It's quite concerning.

Hi muzzleflash.
I got this link from a thread where you posted a good link to pertinent info...thanks btw.
link to many links on subject