Explosion at nuclear sub shipyard

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.

The blast at the Zvyozdochka plant on the White Sea took place at around 3.32am Irish time on board a submarine that had already been stripped of its nuclear fuel and reactors, said Igor Grigoriyev, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry in the Arkhangelsk region.