Kursk Is Being Hauled to Dock

The disfigured wreck of the Kursk nuclear submarine was hauled toward dock under a giant barge Tuesday, and officials insisted that its twin nuclear reactors posed no danger to the environment.

A Dutch consortium raised the Kursk on Monday, more than a year after the 14,000-ton vessel exploded and sank, killing its entire 118-man crew.

“We are absolutely confident nothing will happen to the reactors,” said Deputy Prime Minister Ilya I. Klebanov, who oversaw the effort.

The Kursk is being towed to a dock in Roslyakovo near Murmansk, and concern about a possible radiation leak from the vessel’s two 190-megawatt nuclear reactors has prompted local officials to work out contingency plans.

Meanwhile, at least 30 graves were dug at the Serafimov cemetery in St. Petersburg to prepare for burial of bodies that might be recovered. Two sailors whose bodies were retrieved when divers entered the vessel last fall are buried in Serafimov.

“The number of graves is based on the 30 applications from Kursk relatives willing to bury their sons and husbands in St. Petersburg,” said Igor Kozyr of the St. Petersburg Submariners Club.

The Mammoet-Smit International consortium lifted the submarine, which was lying about 350 feet below the surface, using steel cables lowered from the barge.

The Kursk was then attached to the barge, and a tugboat began hauling it to Roslyakovo on Monday evening. The wreck was due to arrive in Roslyakovo about noon today.