In September 2002 the mobilization headquarters training was conducted on the base of Volga-Baltic steamship. During this training the passenger motor-vessel (the project 301) was re-equipped into sanitary-and-transport ship. The sanitary treatment coast post and the elements of evacuation receiving-room were developed by the personnel on the shore near the mooring wall. On the 3rd day the ship's sanitary treatment post, medical department (60 beds) with the wards for psychic patients (4 critical patients/ward), post for nurse on duty, room of physician on duty, dressing room, drugstore, autoclave room, clinical laboratory and collective defense post were created in the re-equipped rooms of the ship. The training has confirmed the advantages of casualty and patient transportation using the inner water-ways over the other types of transport. The following defects should be noted: the season work of river transport; frequent discrepancy of river trend with evacuation ways; comparatively low rate of transportation; different types of river ships used for medical evacuation.
Main results of the 2012 joint Norwegian-Russian expedition to the dumping sites of the nuclear submarine K-27 and solid radioactive waste in Stepovogo Fjord, Novaya Zemlya.
This paper reports the main results of the 2012 joint Norwegian-Russian expedition to investigate the radioecological situation of the Stepovogo Fjord on the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya, where the nuclear submarine K-27 and solid radioactive waste was dumped. Based on in situ gamma measurements and the analysis of seawater and sediment samples taken around the submarine, there was no indication of any leakage from the reactor units of K-27. With regard to the radioecological status of Stepovogo Fjord, activity concentrations of all radionuclides in seawater, sediment and biota in 2012 were in general lower than reported from the previous investigations in the 1990s. However in 2012, the activity concentrations of (137)Cs and, to a lesser extent, those of (90)Sr remained elevated in bottom water from the inner part of Stepovogo Fjord compared with surface water and the outer part of Stepovogo Fjord. Deviations from expected (238)Pu/(239,240)Pu activity ratios and (240)Pu/(239)Pu atom ratios in some sediment samples from the inner part of Stepovogo Fjord observed in this study and earlier studies may indicate the possibility of leakages from dumped waste from different nuclear sources. Although the current environmental levels of radionuclides in Stepovogo Fjord are not of immediate cause for concern, further monitoring of the situation is warranted.
