MOSCOW (Reuters) - A nuclear submarine caught fire in a shipyard in Russia's northern province of Arkhangelsk on Tuesday but there were no weapons on board, Russian news agencies reported.
The Emergencies Ministry declined comment on the reports of the fire at the Zvyozdochka shipyard, where the agencies said the 155-meter-long (just over 500 feet) 949 Antei submarine was being repaired. There was no word of any casualties.
"There is a fire on the submarine. We are fighting the fire now," a shipyard source told Interfax news agency.
RIA quoted a spokesperson at the shipyard as saying there were no weapons on board the submarine.
A source told TASS news agency the submarine's nuclear reactor had been shut down prior to the blaze.
"The active zone of the reactor was unloaded at the start of repairs a few years ago," the source said.
The news agency reports said the fire had started during welding, causing insulation materials to catch fire.
A similar blaze in 2011 nearly led to a nuclear disaster as a blaze engulfed a nuclear-powered submarine carrying atomic weapons, a leading Russian magazine reported months after the blaze, contradicting official assurances that it was not armed.
Russian propaganda outlet Russia Today has more details.
MT @livefist: A Russian Oscar II nuke submarine docked at Zvezdochka shipyard, visible from INS Vikramaditya's deck pic.twitter.com/uZKjVJA0fv
— Eric Lewis (@SubEWL) November 16, 2013АПЛ Орел в ремонте на Звездочке. http://t.co/nGtWsWbkkZ#Подводныелодки #Классыpic.twitter.com/6bWi61KSMW
— Дарья Таршина (@darya_tarshina) March 17, 2015
Smoke above Severodvinsk shipyard as nuclear submarine K-266 burns. No nukes reported on board http://t.co/OSFZPiXf2qpic.twitter.com/8a4gMLcmqa
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) April 7, 2015
(Reuters reporting by Thomas Grove and Ludmila Danilova, Writing by Thomas Grove, Editing by Timothy Heritage)