Russians say 'Kursk' is no radiation threat

Russian officials yesterday sought to reassure the world that there was no danger of radiation leaking from its sunken nuclear submarine.

Russian officials yesterday sought to reassure the world that there was no danger of radiation leaking from its sunken nuclear submarine.

Alexander Kiryushin, whose company designed the Kursk's power system, said design experts had concluded that the reactors shut down seconds after the accident on 12 August and there was no risk of them restarting or blowing up.

Mr Kiryushin said: "The state of the main barriers which limit and contain the spread of radioactivity from the [reactor's] active zone ... is such that it completely rules out the possibility of an ecological disaster from a radiation leak."

All 118 sailors on board Russia's most modern submarine are believed to have perished in the minutes following explosions that sent the vessel plummeting 350 feet to the bed of the Barents Sea. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov was quoted as saying that "radiation levels in the area where the Kursk suffered its accident remain normal."

President Vladimir Putin meanwhile was busy making good on promises to revive the prestige of the Russian military, whose reputation suffered from its failure to mount a successful rescue. He said last night that the first offer of foreign help came on 15 August, three days after the sinking.

* The pilot of the British LR5 submersible which raced to the disaster site was Tom Heron, not Paddy Heron as reported yesterday.