The two nations reached a basic agreement to begin dismantling nuclear elements from the subs, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin would announce their agreement at Evian, France, Group of Eight summit.

The two nations' joint efforts to clean up retired Russian nuclear submarines date back to 1993, when spent nuclear fuel leaked from a deteriorated Russian submarine in the Sea of Japan.

Following the accident, the two nations set up a joint committee to cooperate in the dismantling of Russia's nuclear assets, including its retired submarines and decomissioned weapons, the Yomiuri said.

But the committee had remained essentially inactive and has yet to work on any Russian submarine, the newspaper said.

SPACE.WIRE