August 3, 2021 — Chinook salmon runs are in decline across Alaska, and research suggests a host of factors are to blame, from ocean predators to warmer streams and excess rain. But Alaska Congressman Don Young recently added a novel suspect to the list: nuclear submarines.
“We have to figure this out. Have to work on it and make sure there’s not something going on,” he said of the poor runs. “Is it climate change? Are they moving north? Is there a nuclear sub stuck out there somewhere?”
Young spoke at a subcommittee hearing Thursday, and acknowledged his theory sounds unusual.
“Everybody laughs at me but at one time I counted 64 nuclear subs from Russia,” he said. “We kept track of them as they came off the coast of California.”
A spokesman said Young was referring to matters like those described in a 2020 BBC article on radioactive submarine wrecks.
Read the full story at Alaska Public Media