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Fire on nuclear submarine near Vladivostok is safely extinguished, say officials By Kate Baklitskaya 16 September 2013 No danger of radiation in the Russian Far East from blaze caused by welding accident, insist experts. The fire ignited on the K-159 Tomsk nuclear powered submarine on Monday morning as it was undergoing repairs at Zvezda shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen, a 'closed' naval base in Primorsky region. As the drama was unfolding, a source at the Pacific Fleet headquarters said: 'There is no radiation hazard. Weapons have been unloaded from the submarine. The situation is completely controlled.' 15 crews of the Pacific...

Chinese Type 093 class SSN (nuclear attack sub) was recently seen moored at their new naval base on Hainan island. This base, just north of Vietnam, must make the Indians nervous, because more and more Chinese warships are showing up in the Indian Ocean. It was only a year ago that China confirmed, as many suspected, that the first Type 093 boar entered service in December, 2006. Officially, that was a secret, and Chinese nuclear subs don't go to sea at much, so it's difficult to tell if new ones are actually in service, and not just tied up at...

What do B-2 bombers and nuclear submarines have in common? Both cost about the same and both require periodic, and expensive, refurbishment. The U.S. B-2 bomber is the most expensive warplane ever to enter service. The 21 that were built ended up costing over $2 billion each. About half of that was development expense. At the time these aircraft were built (in the 1990s), they cost as much as a major warship. The B-2 has similar needs, including periodic (every seven years), lengthy (13 months) refurbishment (programmed depot maintenance, or PDM). Most of the PDM is devoted to refurbishing structural...