Deep - sea explorers have recently taken a plunge into the glacial waters of the Norwegian Sea to survey the sunken stay of a Soviet submarine and discovered it ’s seeping radioactive cesium .
With the helping hand of a Ægir 6000 miniskirt - sub , Norway’sInstitute of Marine Research ( IMR)surveyed the wrecked submarine sandwich and took samples of the saltwater , sediment , and organisms that dwell on the wreck itself . Along with picking up on some suspicious – although not unexpected – levels of radiation , the IMRalso enamour some stunning new images of the vessel resting on the sea floor at a deepness of 1,700 meters ( 5,577 feet ) .
Komsomolets , which means " member of the Young Communist League " , was a 117.5 - meter - long ( 385 - foot ) nuclear - powered attack submarine of the Soviet Navy during the final years of the Cold War . It sank in the Norwegian Sea on April 7 , 1989 , with its nuclear nuclear reactor and two atomic warheads still on display board after a ardor broke out in the locomotive room due to a short circuit . Of the 69 crew , 42 people were killed , most of whom expire of hypothermia while hold back to be rescued . The vessel finally plummet to the depths of the seabed between the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean .
“ We take water system samples from inside this finicky duct because the Russians had documented leaks here both in the nineties and more lately in 2007 . So we were n’t surprised to obtain high floor here , ” expedition leader Hilde Elise Heldal said in astatement .
“ The floor we observe were understandably above what is normal in the oceans , but they were n’t alarmingly eminent , ” she explained .
“ What we have found during our sketch has very little impact on Norwegian Pisces the Fishes and seafood . In general , cesium levels in the Norwegian Sea are very low , and as the wreck is so cryptic , the pollution from Komsomolets is quick debase . ”
The submarine has been the subject of legion resume over the retiring three X by both Norway and Russia . One studyby the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment found that the pigboat ’s Kingston-upon Hull and nuclear reactor vessel wo n’t be destroyed by corroding for at least 1,000 twelvemonth .
