A Soviet-era nuclear waste cemetery was found at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean

The expedition of the Russian research vessel Akademik Ioffe has found a radioactive waste dump in the Kara Sea.

According to archival data, 146 containers of solid radioactive waste, which was created in the reactors of nuclear-powered submarines, were dumped in the area in the 1980s.

Before the recent research, the exact location of the nuclear waste was not yet known.

The expedition was led by the National Research Center of the Kurchatov Institute and PP Shirshov Marine Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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One of the main targets of the search was the barge Likhter-4, which was sunk in 1988.

At the time of sinking, the barge had been loaded with two K-22 nuclear submarine reactor vessels, which are encased in lead and whose fuel has been drained.

The barge and 146 tanks have already been searched for in previous expeditions in 2007, 2023 and 2024. Previous attempts failed due to a limited schedule and bad weather conditions.

Remote-controlled diving robots

Researchers traveling on the Akademik Ioffe used remote-controlled diving robots in their research. The models used were GNOM’s X and Vector robots and an Argus diving robot.

The diving robots made echo soundings and took video footage.

Likhter-4 and tanks were found. In addition to this, the location of the sunken Nikel barge was also clarified.

Nikel, sunk near Kolguyev Island, contains about 580 tons of solid radioactive waste. The location of the barge was known in advance, but only approximately.

The gamma spectrometer mounted on the Argus robot studied the radioactivity.

According to the research results, the radioactive waste has been isolated reliably, and the radioactivity has not spread into the sea.