Russian submarine now leaking radiation

The wreck of a Soviet nuclear submarine which sunk in the Barents Seaafter a fire in 1989 is emitting high levels of radiation, a joint Russian and Norwegian investigative team has reported.

The Komsomolets was a nuclear-powered titanium-hulled attack submarine capable of deep-diving and equipped with two torpedoes carrying nuclear warheads.

The wreck lies 1,680m, roughly one mile, beneath the waves off Bear Island, in the western Barents Sea around 260 miles northwest of the Norwegian coast.

On Monday afternoon a remote-controlled mini-sub took water samples from a ventilation pipe on the submarine with one reading indicating radiation levels are up to 100,000 times higher than those in normal sea water.

Low levels of radiation have occasionally been detected at the wreck over the past 30 years by both Russian and Norwegian research teams.

The last time radiation was measured was in 2008, when a Russian scientists said they had detected a small radioactive leak.

“The results […]