Reactivity Accident of Nuclear Submarine near Vladivostok

Abstract

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and consequently the termination of the Cold War and the disarmament agreements, many nuclear warheads are in a queue for dismantling. As a result, substantial number of nuclear submarines equipped with ballistic missiles will be also withdrawn from service. However, Russian nuclear submarines have suffered from reactivity accidents five times. In the paper, a reactivity accident on a nuclear submarine that happened at Chazhma Bay located between Vladivostok and Nakhodka on August 10, 1985, has been described. In addition, the characteristics of submarine nuclear reactors, procedures of refueling, and the possibility of a similar accident are given. Further, the radiological risk to Japan and neighboring countries has been assessed by using an atmospheric pollutant transport code, WSPEEDI, developed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The radiological risk has been evaluated for the Chazhma Bay accident and for a hypothetical reactivity accident of a retired submarine during defueling, assuming winter meteorological conditions. The analyses have shown that the radioactive material might be transported in the atmosphere to Japan in one to several days and might contaminate wide areas of Japan. Under the assumptions taken in the paper, however, the radiological dose to population in the area might be not significant.