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.

Officials at the Defence Ministry and the Federal Atomic Energy Agency said they had no information on the incident.

Oleg Frolov, chief engineer for the shipyard, said in comments broadcast on NTV that there was no danger of radiation contamination from the incident.

Russian news reports said the submarine was a Victor class ship that normally had two reactors on board.

Grigoriyev said a welding torch apparently ignited fuel vapours that had built up in one compartment of the submarine. One of the workers was killed and another was hospitalised in intensive care, he said.

The fire was extinguished around 4am Irish time, he said.

Arkhangelsk is about 600 miles north of Moscow.