Norway calls crisis talks on Russian submarine

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- Norway has called a meeting of radioactive accident specialists after a Russian nuclear submarine sank to the sea bed off northern Russia, trapping more than 100 crew members.

The Norwegian Defence Ministry said the submarine was around 150m (500 feet) deep on the bottom of the sea in international waters northeast of the Russian port of Murmansk.

It said Russia, which shares an Arctic border with Norway west of Murmansk, had not asked Oslo for help. Measurements of air and water in northern Norway had shown no traces of radioactivity, it added.

The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority said the crisis commission for atomic accidents, which includes radiation specialists, military personnel and health workers, would decide if any action was needed.

"We have to see if this will have consequences for Norwegian areas," Per Strand, acting director general of the authority, said.

"So far we have no reason to believe it wil, but we take this very seriously."

Norway has long feared radioactive pollution from its eastern neighbor. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union used the twin Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya as a nuclear-testing ground. The Russian Northern Fleet is based in Murmansk.

The Defense Ministry said that Norway had not been formally informed of the latest accident or asked for help.

"Nothing implies that Russian rescue experts need assistance, but Norwegian authorities will of course be positive if any request were made," a spokesman said, adding there was no reason to doubt Moscow's assurances that there were no nuclear weapons aboard.

The Russian office of the Norwegian ecological group, Bellona, was quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax as saying it was concerned by the "atmosphere of secrecy" surrounding the submarine incident.

Interfax quoted Bellona as recalling that since the introduction of nuclear submarines, Russia's Northern Fleet had suffered four major accidents in which crew members had died.

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