Utility Pulls Plug on Nuclear Fleet
A power outage to a fleet of nuclear submarines off the coast of northern Russia nearly ended in disaster Thursday as their reactors threatened to overheat, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The Kola peninsula power company cut electricity to a Northern Fleet submarine base over the fleet’s failure to pay its $4.5-million bill, the report said.
Then the submarines’ backup power system--meant to keep the subs’ reactor-cooling systems going--failed, the agency said.
Power was restored only after an urgent call to authorities, it said. It was not clear how long the reactors were without power.
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