Canada has agreed to spend US$18.3 million (C$24.4 million) to help Russia scrap three Cold War-vintage nuclear submarines, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced on Wednesday. The agreement says Canada will eventually help dismantle 12 of the Victor-class subs at a cost of more than US$75 million (C$100 million). Russia has 56 retired submarines awaiting disposal in the Barents Sea region, the Foreign Affairs department said. Canada's contribution is part of a US$15 billion (C$20-billion) program to help dispose of Russian nuclear weapons and materials, which was announced at a G-8 summit meeting two years ago. «Spent nuclear fuel in Russian submarine reactors presents an international security risk and an environmental threat to the Arctic and Barents Sea,» Pettigrew said. «Funding this initiative is a key element of our international security agenda.» Canada joins Britain, Norway, Japan, Germany and the United States in funding Russian nuclear submarine dismantling. At the end of the Cold War, Russia was left with nearly 200 nuclear submarines rusting at the dockside. The Victor-class boats were the workhorses of the Soviet-era sub fleet. Scrapping decommissioned nuclear subs is a long and costly process. The vessels have to be guarded, moved to a defuelling facility and stripped of their radioactive fuel. That material has to be safely disposed of, along with radioactive equipment such as the reactor itself.
