A nuclear leak on a Russian icebreaker off the coast of western Siberia has forced the vessel to head back to port, Russia's nuclear fleet Rosatomflot reported on Thursday.
The "insignificant increase in activity" in the Taimyr atomic icebreaker was noticed as the vessel was leaving the Yenisei Gulf region of the Kara Sea, Rosatomflot said in a statement. The Kara Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean, lies east of the Barents Sea.
The Taimyr was now returning to its port in the northwestern city of Murmansk, it added.
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"If the situation deteriorates, the reactor system will be shut down and the cooling process will begin," Rosatomflot said.
The statement did not say how many people were on board the vessel, adding only that according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, the event could be registered as "a zero", or bearing no safety significance.
