A top atomic official today said Russia would scrap 17 nuclear submarines this year, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia’s nuclear agency chief today said that the nation needed to build dozens of nuclear reactors in a massive effort that would require restoring production links with nuclear-related industrial facilities in other ex-Soviet nations.

An explosion in a decommissioned nuclear submarine being cut up for scrap metal at a northern Russian shipyard killed at least one person and seriously injured another, an emergency official said today.

RUSSIA and Iran signed a nuclear fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington yesterday, paving the way for Tehran to start up its first atomic power plant next year.