MOSCOW, March 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's state nuclear power corporation Rosatom has filed two lawsuits against the Zvezdochka shipyard in north Russia for a total of 169 million rubles (about $5 million), an arbitration court said on Wednesday.

Severodvinsk-based Zvezdochka is Russia's biggest shipyard for repairing and dismantling nuclear-powered submarines. It has the capacity to dismantle up to four nuclear submarines per year.

Rosatom said that Zvezdochka sold scrap metal from dismantled submarines at auctions, and received additional income that should have been deposited in a special account and used for financing the dismantling program.

"These [additional] funds could have been allocated for financing the dismantling program. However, Zvezdochka has not deposited the money [totaling $5 million] received in 2007-2008. We have no other option than to file lawsuits with an arbitration court," a Rosatom official said.

The dates for the court hearings against Zvezdochka have not yet been set, the court said.