A psychiatric examination has been ordered for sailor Dmitry Grobov, who is suspected by investigative authorities of organizing an emergency on the K-152 Nerpa nuclear submarine. Meanwhile, the state commission investigating the causes of the accident on the nuclear submarine, which resulted in the death of 20 people on the evening of November 8, has not yet come to a definite conclusion. One of the members of the Nerpa’s delivery team believes that the fire extinguishing system worked due to a malfunction in the operation of “Molybdenum,” the control panel for the submarine’s general ship systems. Nevertheless, it is expected that sea trials of the Nerpa will be completed in February-March next year.

Yesterday, a source in the military investigation department of the Investigative Committee under the Russian Prosecutor's Office for the Pacific Fleet reported that a psychiatric examination was ordered against contract sailor Dmitry Grobov, who is accused of unauthorized activation of the fire extinguishing system in the second, residential compartment of the Nerpa nuclear submarine. This is a standard procedure that is prescribed for suspects in criminal cases with grave consequences, the source explained. According to unofficial data, the examination will take place in a psychiatric hospital in the seaside city of Ussuriysk. Representatives of the investigation still refrain from making official comments. “The investigation is ongoing,” Yuri Sazonov, deputy head of the military investigation department of the SKP for the Pacific Fleet, told Kommersant. Sailor Grobov's lawyer Valery Portnov also flatly refuses to communicate with the press. “I will not comment or explain anything,” he told Kommersant yesterday. This reticence of the lawyer may be due to the undertaking not to disclose the investigation materials. Let us remind you that sailor Grobov was detained on November 13, a criminal case was opened against him under Part 3 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Causing death by negligence to two or more persons”). According to the investigation, the sailor was calibrating the temperature sensor unauthorized from the local control point, made a mistake, as a result of which the fire extinguishing system was activated and freon flowed into the second compartment.

The State Commission investigating the causes of the accident on the Nerpa nuclear submarine also continues its work. Sergei Stolnikov, a member of the submarine’s delivery team and a mechanical engineer at the Amur Shipyard, told Kommersant yesterday that experts have not yet come to a definite conclusion. “Representatives of the developers are working on the boat - the Malachite design bureau, the NPO Aurora, but so far they have not been able to establish why the LOX (fire extinguishing system - boat volumetric chemical - Kommersant) was launched,” said Mr. Stolnikov . He himself believes that the sailor Grobov could not launch the LOK on his own and the cause of the accident is “design flaws.” “A new model of Molybdenum (the control panel for general ship systems—Kommersant) is being tested on the Nerpa, in the Indian version. This is a “crude” system that has failed before. The reason may be that its main developer died in the summer and the system stood abandoned for three months. Only before the tests it seemed to have been adjusted,” said Sergei Stolnikov. “I think that on November 8, the LOCH started up due to a failure in Molybdenum,” the mechanical engineer concluded. Let us remind you that the Nerpa nuclear submarine is equipped with both automatic and manual launch of the LOX fire extinguishing system.

Although official conclusions about the causes of the accident on the Nerpa have not yet been made, testing of the submarine will continue. As a source at the Pacific Fleet headquarters told Kommersant, sea trials of the submarine are planned to be completed no later than February-March 2009.

Alexey Chernyshev, Vladivostok

Kommersant (Khabarovsk) No. 212 from 11/21/2008

The sailor of the K-152 submarine will be examined