Olen'ya (original) (raw)

Olen'ya

Gadzhiyevo / Gadzhievo Naval Base
69�12'30"N 33�22'20"E

Gadzhievo has two naval facilities: Sayda Bay and Olenya Bay. As of 2001 about six decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines were awaiting dismantlement at Olenya Bay. This base stores about 200 cubic meters of liquid radioactive waste and more than 2,000 cubic meters of solid radioactive waste.

Shipyard No. 85 Nerpa is situated in the innermost part of Olenya Bay. Today, it falls under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy. The town of Snezhnogorsk, also known as Vyuzhny or Murmansk-60, is located approximately five kilometres south-west of Nerpa.

Initially all the Delta IV submarines were based with the Northern Fleet at Olenya. Subsequently the 3rd flotilla of strategic submarines of the Northern fleet was redeployed to Yagyelnaya. Both locations are part of the Gadzhiyevo [Gadzhievo] Naval Base.

In a 29 July 1991 exchange of letters, the US stated that construction of any additional underground structures adjacent to waters in which ballistic missile submarines operate and comparable in size and configuration to the ones located in the immediate vicinity of the Ara Bay [Ara inlet] base facility belonging to the naval base at Gadzhievo (Kola peninsula), the Yagelnaya submarine base (Kola peninsula), and the Pavlovskoye submarine base (Primorskiy kray), would raise concerns regarding compliance with the obligations of the START I agreement. In order to settle the issue of these underground structures once and for all, the Soviet side stated that these underground structures had no adits that make them accessible to waterborne craft of any displacement from adjacent waters and that the Soviet Union had no plans to construct and will not construct such adits as long as the Treaty remained in force.

Olen'ya is an inspectable submarine facility under the START-1 agreement. The United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on 31 July 1991. When START entered into force on 05 December 1994, the signatories began to implement the Treaty's complex set of intrusive inspection and verification measures. As part of START's verification provisions, each signatory was required to declare all facilities related to ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and heavy bombers. The former Soviet Union (FSU) has declared over five dozen START-inspectable sites in all categories, including five SLBM facilities and six submarine facilities. Of the six original submarine facilities, only Olen'ya is a closed out submarine base, operations at this facility having ceased.

As an exception to the provisions in the START Joint Compliance and Inspection Commission Agreement Number 13, the pre-inspection restriction zones for the Yagel'naya and Olen'ya submarine bases were separated. The five-kilometer pre-inspection restriction zone for the Yagel'naya submarine base does not extend to the entrance of the Olen'ya inlet beyond the intersection of the five-kilometer arc associated with this zone with the five-kilometer arc that is associated with the pre-inspection restriction zone for the Olen'ya submarine base and that abuts on the peninsula between the entrances to the Sayda inlet and the Olen'ya inlet. And the five-kilometer pre-inspection restriction zone for the Olen'ya submarine base does not extend beyond the intersection of the five-kilometer arc associated with this zone with the peninsula between the entrances to the Sayda inlet and the Olen'ya inlet.




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