Vladivostok (Russia), June 28: Japan and Russia today signed an agreement to speed up the dismantling of decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines in the Sea of Japan which are considered a potential environmental hazard to the region. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, who is on a two-day visit to the region, was present at the ceremony signing the document, in which Japan pledged 800 million Yen (6.6 million dollars) for the project dubbed "Star of Hope".
The accord signed by Japan's ambassador to Russia Issei Nomura and Russia's Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Sergei Antipov is for an 18-month period. Russian nuclear submarines taken out of service in the Sea of Japan "represent a risk of environmental contamination and a security threat," the Japanese minister said, emphasising the need to ensure that nuclear arms could not be used for terrorist ends.
"That is why this project to dismantle the submarines must be carried out conscientiously," she added. Over the past decade, Japan has contributed 20 billion Yen (169 million dollars) towards the nuclear submarine recycling programme, but so far only four billion yen have been used to set up the region's sole recycling plant at Zvezda.
The outstanding 16 billion Yen has remained unspent. Japan has expressed concern on several occasions over the delays dogging the programme.
Forty-one nuclear submarines have been decommissioned from Russia's pacific fleet in the Russian far east, of which 36 are deemed to present a very high risk of radioactive contamination. Bureau Report