Kursk lift preparations delayed

Operations to raise Kursk began two weeks ago

MOSCOW, Russia -- Raising the nuclear submarine Kursk from the bottom of the sea is taking longer than expected, according to the operations commander.

Vice Admiral Mikhail Motsak said cutting holes in the compartment's hulls is too complicated for remote-controlled robotic equipment, leaving divers to do the work manually.

President Vladimir Putin has vowed to recover the bodies of those who died in the Kursk, which was ripped apart by two unexplained explosions on August 12, 2000.

Moscow recovered 12 of the 118 bodies last year and has vowed to lift the submarine. Officials also hope to determine the cause of the disaster after raising the submarine.

Motsak said in an interview with the Russian national news service Strana Web site: "In the beginning of the operation we thought everything would be considerably quicker and smoother."

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The space within the hulls is filled with pipes, air pressure canisters and supports - all of which make it difficult for the robots to cut the holes.

The holes will be used to attach steel cables to the sunken submarine, which will be raised by 26 hydraulic lifts anchored to a giant pontoon and towed to the Arctic port of Murmansk.

On Sunday, a giant barge loaded with equipment for cutting away the submarine's first compartment arrived in the Norwegian port of Kirkines, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

It will be towed to the salvage site on Friday, the report said.

The front compartment, which may contain unexploded torpedoes, is to be left at the sea bottom when the Kursk is raised in mid-September.

The Kursk has two nuclear reactors aboard, but Russian nuclear experts have denied any possibility of a radiation leak during the salvage effort, saying the reactors would remain safe even if the steel cables break and the Kursk slams back to the sea floor.

A spokeswoman for the Sevmash factory, which built the submarine, said they are developing plans to reuse its weapons system. No further details have been released yet.

The loss of the vessel, one of the most modern in the fleet, traumatised Russia and President Vladimir Putin vowed to raise the Kursk and dispose of its nuclear reactors.

The Russian navy is raising the Kursk with Dutch heavy transport firm Mammoet, salvage company Smit and Norway's Norse Cutting and Abandonment, at a cost of around $130 million.

However, the project is working under severe time constraints and aims to raise the vessel by September 20 before harsh winter weather closes in on the Arctic region.