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Wednesday
March 4, 1992
SNAP
Soviet News Abstracts Publication
Pu6lisht,d by
FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Author: Khokhlov, A. (interviewer)
Title: DEFENSE INDUSTRY SEEKS SHARE OF
PROCEEDS FROM EXPORT OF WEAPONS
Primary Source: KomsomoTs-kaya pravda, Feb-
ruary 8, 1992, Nos. 31-32 (20331-20332),
p. 2, cols. 5-8
Extract: Viktor Konstantinovich Glukhikh,
a head of the military-industrial complex,
thinks that Russia could sell 15 to 30 bil-
lion dollars' worth of weapons a year.
"During the pre-perestroyka years, the
USSR sold, on the average, armaments in the
amount of 18 billion dollars a year on the
world market [he said]."
"How much has the selling of weapons
been reduced?"
"By several times. The Ministry of
Industry of Russia and the Ministry of For-
eign Affairs are making efforts to regain
our positions on 'the world market."
"What kinds of weapons are in greatest
demand?"
"Along with -the United States, France,
England and Germany, we are among the five
countries that are capable of producing
weapons of any class and level. Most ea-
gerly bought from Russia are Mig-29, Mig-31
and Su-217 airplanes, T-72 tanks, guided
antitank missiles, Kalashnikov submachine
guns, ammunition .... There are hundreds
of kinds; and types of equipment, weapons
and ammunition, which are competitive with
and sometimes even surpass foreign models.
"Three-fourths of the defense complex
of the former USSR went to Russia. This
involves 1,500 defense enterprises and more
than 900 research institutes and design
bureaus. The total number of people em-
ployed is about 9 million, 1.7 million of
whom are working at research institutes and
design bureaus. We are not free-loading on
the people. In 1991, more than 60 percent
of the production of the military-industri-
al complex was made up of consumer goods
and other civilian products. Every second
defense-industry employee was working for
peace rather than for war.
"Yes, we want to survive. The govern-
ment has practically stopped budget fi-
nancing and did not provide money for con-
version. During the last 2 years, we have
been converting 30 percent of capacity
each. And we are still alive. Money from
the sale of weapons will be targeted for
conversion of the defense complex. By the
way, negotiations about this are already
under way with the American side.
"The state gets 40 percent of the
transaction sum from sales. It can use
this amount as it deems necessary. The
rest goes to the producers. The productive
assets of the military-industrial complex
constitute about six percent of the coun-
try's industrial potential, and would it be
right for the sake of immediate goals to
squander this part of our country's wealth?
"Interference of politicians in the
arms trade must be minimal: the formula-
tion of overall directions. To whom to
sell and for how much, that must be decided
by specialists -- defense personnel and
diplomats. The main thing is not to do
harm to ourselves by arming potential geo-
political rivals, not to supply arms to
'hot spots,' and to obtain maximum profits
for Russia. All this -- under strict state
supervision."
"What will Russia never trade with?"
"The latest developments, and preci-
sion weapons technologies, especially nu-
clear ones."
(SNAP 920304)
Author: Krivomazov, Nikolay
Title: NUCLEAR SPACECRAFT-ENGINE DEVELOP-
ERS SEEK NEW SOURCES OF INCOME-
Primary Source: Pravda, February 11, 1992,
No. 33 (26787), p. 1, coZs. 3-7
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Extract: A laboratory of the Institute
imeni Kurchatov is making preparations for
a mission to Mars, about which, one may re-
member, the first and last President of the
USSR began talks with the Americans for the
first time.
I talked with the bright people who
invented a nuclear engine for space
flights, an engine that is at least five
years ahead of the American one.
Our 'product' is no being run on Amer-
ican test stands. For dollars. For those
dollars, the physicists will be able to do
more than repair their [broken] faucets and
worn-out chairs. It is expected that infu-
sions of money will give this brain a sec-
ond and third lease on life.
(Two photographs are given showing V.
Koryukin, B. Semenov and Yu. Nechayev work-
ing in the department of high-temperature
power engineering; and the "Ikar" critical
testing stand.)
(SNAP 920304)
Author: Chernenko, V., Candidate of Medi-
cal Sciences, senior project science asso-
ciate of the State Scientific Research In-
stitute of Civil Aviation
Title: WORK ON NEW RADIATION-SAFETY NORMS
FOR FLIGHT PERSONNEL HALTED
Primary Source: Vozdushnyy transport, Feb-
ruary 1992, No. 7 (2087), P. 9, cols. 3-5
Extract: Norms of radiation safety are in
effect -in our country. A radiation dose of
5 rem per year is permitted for personnel
of nuclear power stations or persons in
category "A." This norm is for the cate-
gory of so-called "irradiated" persons --
technical personnel, and operators who work
directly in zones of heightened radiation
at nuclear stations. For persons livin@
near sources of radiation (category "B"
this figure is one-tenth as high. These
norms are now being revised in the direc-
tion of greater rigidity. For all the rest
of the citizenry, the norm is 0.04 to 0.1
rem (which is the amount that we may re-
ceive in a whole year, including irradia-
tion resulting from various medical proce-
dures).
Judging by results of dosimetric stud-
ies which were conducted on 310 flights in
1991, pilots receive from 0.3 to 0.9 rem
per year while spending 700 hours in the
air.
Some types of airplanes are equipped
with radiation monitors, but they are ex-
tremely imperfect. Radiation monitors on
TU-134 and IL-62 airplanes detect only high
doses of irradiation, beginning with a
"roentgen," which are possible only during
sudden solar flare-ups and heightening of
solar activity. Not a single Soviet radia-
tion monitor is specified for making mea-
surements at an altitude.
There has been almost no study of ef-
fects which small doses of radiation pro-
duce on the human organism. About 10 years
ago, scientists of our institute gathered
and systematized information on [cancer]
illness rates of flight personnel; very
large figures were obtained, but we were
not allowed to publish them.
Our latest work is aimed at formulat-
ing new radiation-safety norms for flight
personnel and making pilots equivalent to
category "A" of irradiated persons. on the
basis of new norms, changes in conditions
of the work and leisure time of crews can
be insisted on; airplanes can be equipped
with more sensitive radiation monitors, in-
cluding individual ones, on routes above 60
degrees North latitude; and it can be rec-
ommended that crews fly on levels no higher
than 10,000 meters.
But this is a matter for the future.
For radiation safety norms to be changed,
at least five years of "work on statistics"
for years which are different from the
standpoint of solar activity will be need-
ed. Unfortunately, our group's work was
discontinued in March.
(SNAP 920304)
Author: Kuznetsova, T., engineer of the
Aircraft Scientific-Technical Complex imeni
Antonov
Title: ISOKINETIC AEROSOL SAMPLERS DEVEL-
OPED AT AIRCRAFT DESIGN BUREAU
Primary Source: Vozdushnyy transport, Feb-
ruary 1992, No. 7 (2087), p. 11, col. 5
Extract: An instrument developed at the
Aircraft Scientific-Technical Complex imeni
Antonov identifies what we are breathing.
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Among numerous and diverse exhibits,
an isokinetic sampler of aerosols (IPA) at-
tracted attention chiefly by virtue of its
'professional' qualities. This exhibition
was assembled by the International Associa-
tion for Rendering Assistance to Victims of
the Accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Station and shown at the Republic Center
for Exhibitions and Fairs in Kiev.
Research of characteristics of an aer-
osol is nothing new, generally speaking.
Instruments in existence up to now have
been equipped with electric drives and have
been complicated to operate and unreliable,
however. The Antonov complex's IPA is com-
pletely self-contained. It operates on the
principle of the vacuum cleaner, using the
energy of the wind to drive a windwheel
which performs the function of an air pump.
Moreover, the fact that the instrument is
isokinetic (i.e., the speeds of the air
flow in the atmosphere and the flow in the
instrument's intake canal are identical)
enables it to monitor air pollution around
the clock with high precision, missing
nothing.
In four years of operation, more than
25,000 samples have been taken in a wide
range of weather conditions, and data have
been obtained on regularities involved in
the formation of harmful radiation and eco-
logical conditions. This work has been
favorably evaluated by the Ukrainian Acad-
emy of Sciences' Institute of Nuclear Re-
search.
There are already more than 100 sam-
plers in the series. They were produced at
the Kiev Aircraft Production Association
according to plans and specifications from
the Antonov designers. A second generation
of the instruments has now been developed
which is more highly perfected and relia-
ble. A number of European countries have
shown interest in the Kiev aircraft design-
ers' development.
As was reported at the design bureau,
plans call for use of the IPA in a wider
range of its capabilities; in particular,
for it to be used as a basic instrument for
development of regional ecological monitor-
ing.
(SNAP 920304)
Author: Chebotarev, Ye., Meritorious Sci-
entist of Ukraine
Title: BOOK ON EFFECTS OF PROLONGED EXPO-
SURE TO CHERNOBYL ADIATION
Primary Source: Pravda Ukrainy, January
18, 1992, No. 7 (14995), p. 2, col. 5
Extract: Chernobyl and Hiroshima. Two
global nuclear disasters .... The book
From Hiroshima to Chernobyl (Ot Khirosimy
do Chernobylya), published by "Naukova
dumka" in 1991, by Professor V. A. Baraboy,
a Kiev radiobiologist, is essentially the
first objective comparison of these terri-
ble events.
How does ionizing radiation work and
how does one protect oneself from the le-
thal, though imperceptible flow of radia-
tion? What happened at Hiroshima and Naga-
saki has focused the attention of science
on this acute problem, and the author, who
has been working in this field for many
years, travels an instructive road with his
readers. But Chernobyl exposed another
facet of the radiation threat: the hidden
danger of prolonged external and internal
irradiation in low doses, which until re-
cently seemed to be practically harmless.
Are there radiation doses that are so low
that they are completely harmless? Or does
such action have no threshold, being dan-
gerous even at the level of individual par-
ticles and quanta of radiation? V. Baraboy
is of the opinion that harmless thresholds
are only an illusion.
The book opens the series "Chernobyl,"
which is intended not for some narrow cir@
cle of specialists, but for everybody.
(SNAP 920304)
Author: Orekhov, T. (VZadivostok)
Title: GAS-HYDRATE FUEL PRODUCTION CALLED
ALTERNATIVE TO NUCLEAR POWER
Primary Source: Sovetskaya Rossiya, Febru-
ary 7, 1992, No. 26 (10725), p. 2, cols.
3-8
Extract: The Primorskiy Kray Soviet has
adopted a decision to build an underground
nuclear power station in this kray.*
Those who support the idea of building
a nuclear power station have a considerable
number of opponents. One of them is Boris
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Fedosovich Titayev, member of the Russian
Engineering Academy and general director of
the scientific production joint-stock com-
pany "Pacific Marine Technologies," who has
been studying problems of Far East power
engineering for many years.
"Underground nuclear power stations
are 2-2.5 times as costly as those above
ground, so that implementation of the pro-
ject will cost a minimum of 10 billion ru-
bles [he said]. It is proposed to install
underground a nuclear reactor for subma-
rines - a creation of the Central Scien-
tific Research Institute imeni Krylov.
But, I beg your pardon, the specialists of
this institute are far removed from design-
ing underground nuclear power stations.
Moreover, from the point of view of relia-
bility and economic efficiency, their mer-
its are, to put it mildly, not indisputa-
ble.
"Furthermore, Primorskiy Kray is in a
zone of active tectonic activity and
faults. Should there be a slight earth-
quake .... Surveying, designing and build-
ing of the proposed nuclear power station
will take 8-10 years (rather than 3-4
years, as the authors of the idea assure
us)."
"Is there a realistic alternative to
the nuclear power station?"
"What is paradoxical about the kray's
energy Crisis is that we are literally sit-
ting on top of fabulous reserves of fuel
resources. What I have in mind is gas hy-
drate --- a mineral consisting of methane
and water in the frozen state. At the bot-
tom of the world's oceans, including the
coastal shelves, there is many times more
of it than world reserves of coal, petrole-
um, gas and peat taken together -- not less
than 15,000 trillion tons! Moreover, the
reserves are practically inexhaustible,
since gas hydrate is continuously being
formed. When it decomposes, each cubic
meter of it yields 150-180 cubic meters of
methane and about 800 liters of fresh
water. The studies conducted and the spe-
cialized production complexes developed to
the technical-drawings stage make it possi-
ble to plan the creation of semicommercial
facilities for the recovery and processing
of gas hydrate at the coast of the Southern
Primorye (Maritime Territory), Sakhalin and
the Kuril Islands within 18 months to two
years. And the cost of commercial under-
water facilities, a base ship, a transpor-
tation system, management and an on-shore
infrastructure will be one-fifth to one-
seventh that of a nuclear station and will
involve ecologically clean technology.
"Our gas-hydrate program has passed
very strict examination in the Russian gov-
ernment and has been accepted for budget
funding as a state program. But in the
present situation, the government has can-
not deal with it. Local governing struc-
tures must have a material interest in
solving this problem, and such an interest
is just what they lack. On the other hand,
we have credit offers from Americans, and'
not only from them. People abroad have
quickly become aware of the profitability
of gas hydrates."
*See also the Daily SNAP, January 13, 199?,
p. 1, Col. 1
(SNAP 920304)
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