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A $765,000 contract on dismantling the first of five nuclear submarines in the Russian Far East was signed by Russian and Japanese officials on Monday, Japanese Foreign Affairs Vice Minister Ito Shintaro told reporters on the following day in Vladivostok.

Shintaro, who arrived Sunday in Russia's Far East for a week to inspect the disposal of decommissioned nuclear submarines, stated that Victor-I-class submarine will become the first to be scrapped in accord with the signed contract. “Japan has provided 90 million yen ($765,000),” Shintaro said, adding that South Korean and Australia are also engaged in this project.

Japan and Russia reached an agreement in October 1993 to cooperate in dismantling nuclear vessels. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tokyo in November 2005, reconfirmed the mutual plan for dismantling submarines. In line with this accord, the go-ahead was given toward the dismantling of the five submarines

Russia and Japan agreed to cooperate in the disassemble of three Victor-III-class nuclear submarines phased out of the Russian Navy in the Far East, one Victor-I-class submarine and one Charlie-class submarine. At present, four Victor-class submarines are based near Vladivostok and the Charlie-class submarine in Kamchatka. The Japanese delegation is scheduled to visit the dismantling site in Kamchatka on Wednesday.

Overall Japan has allotted 20 billion yen ($170 million) for nuclear subs dismantling. $34 million of this sum was already spent on construction of the facility to dispose of low-level radioactive waste which was built in 2001 at the plant ‘Zvezda’ in the city of Bolshoi Kamen. Shintaro who inspected the facility on Monday expressed satisfaction with its effective work. Another project implemented in December 2004 was the dismantling of a Victor-III-class nuclear submarine. Japan spent $8.5 million for the mission.

“Nuclear subs disposal projects are intended to improve ecological condition of the Japanese Sea and help reduce nuclear hazards,” Shintaro noted. “Japan is the country which suffered much from the nuclear disaster in 1945 and we fully understand the necessity to diminish nuclear danger,” he stressed.

Currently 26 retired nuclear submarines, mostly built during the Cold War era by the former Soviet Union, are rusting away at several ports in Russia's Far Eastern region. Another 24 decommissioned submarines are kept in the Northern Fleet. The vessels still contain their eroding nuclear reactors.

In 1993, some spent nuclear fuel leaked into the Japanese sea from one of the oldest submarines. Traces of the spent fuel were later found in the Sea of Japan, causing concern the submarines could pose a major pollution hazard.

Russia assigned about $70 million for the project. According to the Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy (Rosatom), 122 nuclear subs have been scrapped in Russia so far, about 15-17 submarines are dismantled each year. The process is scheduled to be completely finished by 2010.