Barents Sea, Russia
Russia’s defense minister blamed the sinking of a nuclear submarine this week on the “Russian national trait of carelessness.” The submarine sank in a storm in the Barents Sea as it was being towed to an Arctic scrap yard for removal of its decommissioned nuclear reactors. Nine of the 10 sailors on board drowned. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the disaster was a result of the navy’s “frivolous, Russian reliance on chance,” and he ordered a temporary halt to the transfer of decommissioned subs while procedures were reviewed. Russia has more than 100 derelict submarines that are waiting to be scuttled, many of them rusting away and leaking radiation.
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