http://www.boston.com/dailynews/134/world/Kursk_to_be_raised_during_thre:.shtml

Kursk to be raised during three-month starting in summer

By Judith Ingram, Associated Press, 5/14/2001 11:38

MOSCOW (AP) A top Russian official said Monday that the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk would be raised in a three-month operation, tentatively set to begin in late July.

Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who heads the commission investigating the Kursk tragedy, said Russia and the Dutch and Norwegian firms taking part in the operation were to sign an agreement May 20 in St. Petersburg.

The Kursk was one of Russia's most modern nuclear submarines. It exploded and sank during maneuvers in the Barents Sea last summer, killing all 118 crewmen.

The government has not released any official explanation of what caused the disaster. Most foreign experts say the most likely cause was an internal malfunction, such as a torpedo misfiring and sparking an explosion.

However, the government has not officially ruled out the theory that the Kursk collided with another vessel, possibly a foreign submarine. Klebanov's committee is scheduled to hold its final meeting to discuss possible causes on Saturday, NTV said.

Russian experts say it could cost up to $80 million to raise the shattered Kursk.

''The Russian government guarantees 100 percent payment for this operation,'' Klebanov told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and other officials.

He said the Kursk Foundation, an international fund-raising group, would compensate the government with whatever money it collects. NTV put that figure at only a few thousand dollars.

A Kursk Foundation representative in Brussels, Belgium, refused comment.

Two nuclear reactors and some 22 missiles are still on the 14,000-ton submarine, which lies 356 feet below the surface of the Barents Sea off the Russian coast.

A crane capable of lifting 440,000 tons and a pontoon barge will be used to raise the Kursk, NTV reported. Foreign firms will help lift all but the first compartment of the submarine, the most heavily damaged, the ITAR-Tass news agency said, citing unnamed sources. Only Russians would take part in lifting the first compartment.

Klebanov said earlier this year that the submarine's mangled torpedo compartment would be cut away from the vessel and left on the sea floor to minimize the possibility of further explosions.

The operation will be concluded by Sept. 20, he said Monday.

The plan to lift the Kursk has provoked controversy in Russia. Some of the crewmen's families have said they would prefer to follow the naval tradition of burying their dead at sea.

Environmental groups have said lifting the Kursk would risk a possible breakup of the vessel, rupture of the protective casings around the reactors and a radioactive spill.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001