Russia to Scrap Last Soviet-Era Nuclear Sub by 2014

03.04.2013 Russia's Nerpa shipyard is to scrap the last Soviet-era nuclear submarine to be withdrawn from the Russian Fleet by 2014, the yard said.

The Project 949A (NATO: Oscar II class) cruise-missile submarine Krasnodar was launched in 1985 and retired from the Russian Navy in 2012.

The boat will be the last submarine to be dismantled at the shipyard, Nerpa press secretary Irina Anzulatova said.

“Work is currently underway to remove spent nuclear fuel from it,” she said.

According to Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, a total of 199 nuclear submarines have been decommissioned from the Navy since the late 1980's, including 120 in northwestern Russia and 79 in Russia’s Far East.

Russia has three nuclear submarine disposal enterprises: Zvyozdochka in Severodvinsk (Arkhangelsk region), Nerpa in Snezhnogorsk (Murmansk region) and Zvezda in Bolshoi Kamen (Far East).