Dismantling is laborious work

"If anyone had been able to get aboard the Kursk and tamper with her weapons, the world would have a much bigger problem than the fate of one submarine to worry about."

The Russian military daily Red Star reported a former Northern fleet admiral as saying that industry representatives had tried to foist the new-style torpedoes on the navy, which said they were difficult to store and dangerous to handle.

Mr Nilsen said he thought the Russians would try to salvage the vessel, in order to retrieve the bodies of the crew, although they would again need Western assistance.

"The failed rescue attempt was the first time that Russia has ever accepted help from the West in a naval accident", he said.

"I think what happened will lead to changes in the Russian navy, which is facing unprecedented public criticism."

Mr Nilsen said the submarine's reactor compartment was filled with seawater, so there might ultimately be small leaks of radioactivity.

But he was far more worried at the condition of about 30 submarines from the Northern fleet now abandoned in the waters around the Kola peninsula, close to the Norwegian frontier.

The fleet has decommissioned 110 submarines, 72 of them with their nuclear fuel still on board. The vessels that worry Mr Nilsen still have their fuel.

Cut apart

Some have been tied up for 15 years, and they are so corroded they are no longer remotely seaworthy.

"Under the Start disarmament agreements with the US they had their missile sections removed", Mr Nilsen explained.

Seawater is leaking into the crack in this vessel

"The Russians simply joined together the bow and stern sections of the subs, which are now at risk of sinking.

"If they do, it will be possible for seawater to get into the reactors, and the worst possible consequence of that would be a meltdown.

"The boats are in naval bases all along the Kola coast, and two of them are lying in Murmansk, a city of 430,000 people."

Slow progress

Bellona's Russian office is in Murmansk. Privately, many Western experts are deeply worried at the potential for catastrophic contamination in northern Russia.

They say the problems are not technical, but political - the creaking pace of Russian officialdom, and the ingrained instinct to secrecy. But Bellona refuses to despair.

"Perhaps the biggest fear is fear itself", says Thomas Nilsen. "Progress is very slow. But it's happening. And as long as it is, that's good."

All photographs courtesy of Bellona Foundation