January 5, 2007: Russia, with financial and technical assistance from America, Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Norway, is on schedule to decommission 197 nuclear submarines built by the Soviet Union. Russia is dismantling 18 of these old subs a year. It costs about $7 million per submarine. The primary task is to safely take apart the nuclear reactor, and get the radioactive components to a secure storage facility. The foreign nations contributing to this effort are all maritime nations that were concerned about the old Soviet subs falling apart while still in the water. What got this aid program going was the discovery that the Soviets were just dumping some radioactive components into Arctic waters. Russia was more willing, than the Soviets, to do the right thing and is determined to safely dispose of all these old nuclear subs.