A fire broke out today on the 23 year old Russian Oscar class K-266 Orel nuclear submarine in a drydock in the Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea. Reportedly, a welding torch set insulation on fire. The shipyard has stated that the submarine’s reactor was shut down and the ship’s nuclear fuel had been removed prior to the accident. A spokesman for the shipyard said that there were no casualties and that firefighters had contained the blaze.
Coincidentally, the fire today occurred on the 26th anniversary of the a fire on the Mike-class Soviet nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets. which claimed the lives of all 42 crew aboard on April 7, 1989. Continue reading