WIRE:06/01/2000 10:05:00 ET Russia navy base uses nuclear subs for electricity

MOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) - Frequent power cuts on the remote Kamchatka peninsula have forced Russia's military to fire up reactors on nuclear submarines to provide electricity to bases there, an admiral said in an interview published on Thursday. Admiral Valery Drogin told the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta government newspaper that even the strategic nuclear missile bases on the Pacific Ocean peninsula were now being powered by reactors on board the submarines.

"We could not leave without electricity the air defences, the navy, the strategic nuclear forces, the sea and anti-submarine aviation or a range of other installations," he said. "So we were forced to put the reactors of five nuclear submarines into action as electric power stations."

He said using the reactors as a power supply was a wasteful practice that would dramatically shorten the submarines' life span.

"If we do not bring to an end the constant energy supply crisis in the region, we risk being left without nuclear-powered warships, and the strategic nuclear forces would suffer great losses."

Power stations in Russia's Far East suffer from chronic fuel shortages because of the high cost of delivery and the heavy indebtedness of local companies.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000601_1576.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 01, 2000