August 8, 2006: A fourteen year old Russian attack submarine (SSN), the Victor III class Tambov (K-448), suffered a leak in its nuclear reactor recently. Apparently it was radioactive coolant. The leak was severe enough for several sailors to be hospitalized. The incident occurred at the Russian Northern Fleet sub base in Murmansk, on the Arctic coast, in late July. The Russian navy reported that there was no "nuclear contamination of the naval base," which local civilians interpret as meaning that the radioactive material was confined to the sub. Apparently, the sailors sent to the hospital, where just sent as a precaution, to make sure they had not suffered any immediate, or lasting, harm. In 1989, a similar leak aboard a Russian sub at sea, caused several serious casualties, and some radioactive water was released into the ocean.
The Russian navy has a long history of nuclear accidents aboard its submarines. Numerous sailors, suffering from radiation poisoning, were treated at special hospitals in the Murmansk area. Locals liked to say that, "you can always tell a man from the Northern Fleet, as he glows in the dark." Dark humor like that, and poor morale among sub crews, led to major improvements in the nuclear shielding, and reactor safety, on Russian nuclear subs. But Russian safety standards are still below those of Western navies operating nuclear subs.