A soviet era Submarine which sank back in 1989 is still giving off significant radiation – 800,000 times higher than normal according to Norwegian scientists. Apparently, this is nothing to worry about as the Arctic water is diluting it and there are few fish found at that depth.
The Sub K-278 Komsomolets sank following a fire on 7th April 1989 with the loss of 42 of the crew. It had two nuclear warheads on board as well as the reactor and these are still in the wreck. The wreck was found after a couple of months although no efforts were made to recover it given the environmental impact was deemed negligible. It has been monitored intermittently over the years and in 2008 Norwegian authorities from the Marine Environmental Agency and Radiation Agency took several water samples and no radiation was found. However, 800,000 times more than normal is a big rise from nothing and takes a lot of dilution. The lack of alarm sounds more like its too expensive to sort out to us than a negligible risk.
Image : solomon7/Shutterstock
