Izvestia, April 26, 2002, p. 3
An operation began yesterday to transport the Kursk nuclear submarine from the shipyard in Roslyakovo to the Nerpa shipyard. “The Kursk will be supported by pontoons, and transferred from the PD-50 floating dock into our shipyard’s dock,” said Nerpa general director Pavel Steblin. “This is the most difficult phase. Then the submarine will be delivered to Snezhnogorsk.”
The journey to Nerpa across the Kola Bay will take 12-14 hours. At the shipyard, the submarine’s remaining missiles will be removed from tubes which were damaged in the explosions. Unloading these missiles at Roslyakovo would have been extremely dangerous. Nuclear fuel from the sub’s reactor will be transferred to a special unloader vessel. Then the submarine will be set into a slipway, after which an interdepartmental commission will decide which parts and equipment might be salvaged for re-use on similar submarines. The hull and the completely ruined equipment will be scrapped by the end of this year.
