today

IMO: Probably about time too. I thought of taking a jaunt to the North Pole on a Russian icebreaker recently, just before my recent trip to Greenland, but was appalled by earlier US reports about the high degree of radioactivity on these vessels. Now it seems that there is a Russian icebreaker travelling around more or less in circles near Murmansk, rather like a car travelling round and round the same roundabout (for US readers, there is a roundabout in Coral Gables, Fla.). Now a car in that situation would doubtless eventually have an accident. Our problem here is that the icebreaker in question is apparently loaded to the gunwales (whatever they are) with dangerous spent nuclear fuel and cannot pull in to land as part of Russia's help in the 'war on terrorism'. i.e. if it lands the terrorists are likely to hijack it.

Surely the Russians can set up a uranium storage centre with the money they get for renting icebreakers to Americans, who cannot afford their own. USA are actually starting to lose capacity to build big shipping, it seems. But economy matters and doubtless we will all find this out.