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Nuclear Wastes in the Arctic: An Analysis of Arctic and Other Regional Impacts From Soviet ... PDF

244 Pages·1995·3.14 MB·English
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Nuclear Wastes in the Arctic: An Analysis of Arctic and Other Regional Impacts From Soviet Nuclear Contamination September 1995 OTA-ENV-632 GPO stock #052-003-01452-1 Recommended Citation: Nuclear Wastes in the Arctic: An Analysis of Arctic and Other Regional Impacts from Soviet Nuclear Contamination, OTA-ENV-623 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1995). F oreword O ne of the lasting legacies of the Cold War, and the buildup in nuclear weap- onry and military over the past 50 years, is nuclear waste and its threat to human health and the environment. Notable examples of waste dumped into the open environment have caused people and nations to demand information about what was done and what health risks may result. In 1993, disclosures about Rus- sian dumping of submarine reactors, nuclear fuel, and other wastes into the Arctic and North Pacific Oceans brought this region and its problems into the world spotlight. Peo- ple in the United States want to know about this dumping and other discharges of radio- nuclides into the oceans. They want to understand the risks from Russian nuclear activities, both past and future, and the potential threat to their health and that of the Arctic ecosystem. Because of these concerns, Senator Ted Stevens, Chairman of the Defense Subcom- mittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senators William V. Roth and John Glenn, Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Govern- mental Affairs, asked the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to prepare this assessment of Nuclear Waste in the Arctic. This report examines the environmental and human health impacts from wastes dumped into the Arctic and North Pacific regions, from nuclear contaminants dis- charged into these environments, and from radioactive releases from both past and future nuclear activities in the region. The report presents what is known and unknown about this waste and contamination and how it may affect public health. Because so many factors are involved and science cannot provide absolute answers to many ques- tions, this study emphasizes the need for care, caution, awareness, and prudence. It also stresses the need for a stable and enduring institutional framework and international cooperation for long-term observation and monitoring. OTA received considerable assistance during this study from many organizations and individuals. We sincerely appreciate the guidance received from our Advisory Panel, workshop participants, numerous reviewers, contributors, consultants, and contractors. We also received help from several U.S. federal agencies, research institutions, interna- tional organizations, the Russian Government and private institutions, the Norwegian Government and private organizations, and others. Without this cooperation and expert advice, OTA would not have been able to accomplish this study. ROGER C. HERDMAN Director A dvisory Panel Robert P. Morgan, Chair Paula Garb Stephanie L. Pfirman Professor of Technology & Researcher, Global Peace & Associate Professor and Chair Human Affairs Conflict Studies Program Barnard College, Columbia Washington University University of California, Irvine University John F. Ahearne Marvin Goldman Lydia V. Popova Executive Director Professor Emeritus of Director, Nuclear Ecology Sigma Xi, The Scientific Radiological Sciences Program Research Society University of California, Davis Socio-Ecological Union, Moscow James S. Allen Joshua Handler Manager, Advanced Programs Research Coordinator Caleb Pungowiyi Georgia Tech Research Greenpeace International Director Institute Inuit Circumpolar Conference Edway R. Johnson Susan Eisenhower President and CEO William L. Templeton Director E.R. Johnson Associates, Inc. Senior Research Advisor Center for Post Soviet Studies Pacific Northwest Laboratory John J. Kelley Murray Feshbach Associate Professor William R. Wiley Research Professor Institute of Marine Science Senior Vice President, Science Georgetown University University of Alaska, and Technology Policy Fairbanks Battelle Memorial Institute Malcom MacKinnon III President MacKinnon Searle Consortium, Ltd. iv W orkshop Participants RUSSIAN NAVAL SPENT Andrei V. Pechkurov Mark Dinneen NUCLEAR FUEL WORKSHOP Russian Ministry of Alaska Governor’s Office Environment Nikolai Z. Bisovka Clyde Frank Naval Reactors Division Vyacheslav V. Ruksha U.S. Department of Energy Murmansk Shipping Company GOSATOMNADZOR Burton Hurdle Mikhail I. Rylov Naval Research Laboratory Jor Shan Choi Krylov Shipbuilding Research Lawrence Livermore National Institute Bruce Molnia Laboratory U.S. Geological Survey Yuri V. Sivintsev Valeriy A. Danilian Kurchatov Institute Charles Myers Russian Navy, Pacific Fleet National Science Foundation Aleksandr V. Tkalin Knut Gussgard Russian Far Eastern Hydromet Charles Newstead Norwegian Radiation Institute U.S. Department of State Protection Authority Boris Zakharkin Jack Ramsey Al Hoskins Russian Scientific and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Lockheed Idaho Technology Research Institute of Commission Corporation Inorganic Materials Stephen Trautman John Jicha INSTITUTIONAL ROUNDTABLE Department of the Navy U.S. Department of Energy Thomas Armbruster Mead Treadwell M.R. Louthan U.S. Department of State formerly Alaskan Department Westinghouse Savannah River of Environmental Corporation Eugene Bae Conservation U.S. Department of Defense Edward Washburn Nigel Mote Garrett Brass U.S. Department of Energy NAC International U.S. Arctic Research Commission Boris P. Papkovsky Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy P roject Staff Clyde Behney Peter A. Johnson CONTRIBUTORS Assistant Director, OTA Project Director Health and Environmental Mike Bowes Sciences Division Lois Joellenbeck OTA Senior Analyst Robert Niblock Lee Cooper Program Director Bernard Lee Oak Ridge National Environment Program Research Analyst Laboratory ADMINISTRATION STAFF German Reyes Burton Hurdle Co-project Director Naval Research Laboratory Kathleen Beil Office Administrator Kirsten Oldenberg David Nagel Senior Analyst Naval Research Laboratory Nellie Hammond Administrative Secretary Beth Gerard Research Analyst Kimberly Holmlund Administrative Secretary CONTRACTORS Sharon Knarvik Gary Baham Secretary The Baham Corporation Babette Polzer Oleg Bukharin Contractor Princeton University Gretchen McCabe Battelle Memorial Institute Florence Poillon Editor vi C ontents 1 Summary, Findings, and Policy Options 1 Key Findings of Study 14 Policy Issues and Options 18 References 25 2 Contamination from Nuclear Wastes in the Arctic and North Pacific 27 Background and Overview 27 Arctic Contamination from Non-dumping Sources 33 Radioactive Contamination from Soviet Nuclear Waste Dumping 45 Research and Monitoring of Radioactive Contamination in the Arctic, the North Pacific, and Alaska 50 Research and Monitoring: Data Gaps and Future Needs 60 Remediation Options 63 Conclusions 71 References 72 3 Environmental and Health Effects of Nuclear Waste Dumping in the Arctic 79 Human Health Effects from Radiation 80 Sources of Ionizing Radiation 85 Potential Health Effects from Nuclear Contamination in the Arctic and North Pacific 86 Ecological Effects of Radiation in the Arctic and North Pacific Regions 106 Conclusions 108 References 110 4 Sources and Risks of Potential Future Contamination 115 The Russian Nuclear Fleet 117 Managing Spent Fuel from the Russian Fleet: Issues and Opportunities for Cooperation 133 vii Russian Nuclear Power Plants—Safety Concerns and Risk Reduction Efforts 149 Conclusions 163 References 166 5 Institutional Framework and Policies 171 U.S. Initiatives and Programs Supporting Research on Radioactive Contamination in the Arctic 173 Monitoring and Early Warning Initiatives Designed to Address Radioactive Contamination in the Arctic 194 Institutional Initiatives and Programs Designed to Prevent Future Arctic Radioactive Contamination 202 Current Russian Institutional Structure 215 References 221 Appendix A: Reviewers 231 Appendix B: Acronyms and Glossary 233 Appendix C: Excerpts from DoD Appropriations Acts for FY1993, 1994 & 1995 Providing Funding and Authority for the Arctic Nuclear Waste Assessment Program (ANWAP) 237 viii Summary, Findings, and Policy 1 Options A ll major nuclear nations face nuclear Protection of the environment and public waste problems. Many also share a com- health requires careful and responsible manage- mon history of radioactive contamina- ment and long-term control of nuclear waste. In tion incidents stemming from inadequate recent years, as the Cold War and the nuclear attention to environmental protection. The arms race have abated, many nations, institu- United States and Russia, in particular, have tions, and individuals have become increasingly some similar nuclear waste management and concerned about the environmental legacy of the contamination problems within their respective nuclear age. Reports about nuclear waste dump- nuclear weapons complexes. Current work on ing, radioactive discharges and accidents, and these problems is enhanced by recently increased their potential human health effects have galva- cooperation and improved public awareness of nized public attention and forced nations to seek the benefits of environmental protection. How- solutions to these problems. ever, radioactive contamination has endangered Nuclear waste in the Arctic is a subject that public health in some cases and still engenders has been brought to the forefront by recent reve- serious public reaction worldwide for a number lations about the dumping of Soviet submarine of reasons. Among these are the fear resulting reactors and waste products in the sea over the from vivid portrayals of atomic bomb victims; past several decades when the region off the concerns about chronic and long-term health northwestern coast of Russia was a hub of impacts from radiation exposure; distrust of gov- nuclear fleet and nuclear testing activities. The ernments who kept most nuclear information Arctic elicits images of vast frozen expanses secret for decades; and the presence of an envi- with little human habitation or industry and a rel- ronmental hazard that is difficult to detect and atively pristine environment. But these images even more difficult for most people to under- are not always accurate, and contamination from stand. Any attempt to address solutions to envi- both military and industrial activities has brought ronmental and human health threats from nuclear questions about its impact not only locally but in contamination must consider both the scientific the wider Arctic region. Box 1-1 and figure 1-1 and the social realities. describe the geographic focus of this Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) study. | 1 2 | Nuclear Wastes in the Arctic BOX 1-1: Geographic Focus of This Study The Arctic region is frequently defined as all areas north of the Arctic circle (66.5°N latitude), which means it includes the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, and northern parts of the European, Asian, and North American continents. It has distinguishing characteristics in both political and ecological terms. There are eight Arctic circumpolar nations: the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark. All are signatories to the Declaration on Arctic Environmental Protection. Alaska’s northern coast borders the Arctic. Half of the Arctic coastline, however, lies within Russia. That country has historically used these waters as an important transportation route, linking its western and eastern northernmost regions, as well as providing access to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Arctic region is also home to two-thirds of Russia’s fleet of nuclear submarines and icebreakers. To ensure access to harbors all year round, Russia maintains a nuclear-powered fleet of icebreakers, as well as a large number of radioisotope-powered lighthouses. The central core of the Arctic region—its ocean—is “a sea bordered by prominent countries, all of which have concerns regarding security, resource exploitation, environmental protection, etc.” (11). Cov- ering about 390,000 square miles, the Arctic Ocean is the world’s smallest. It is almost completely cov- ered by six to 10 feet of ice in winter. In summer it becomes substantially open (ice free) only at its peripheries. There are two international outlets: the Bering Strait, which lies between Alaska and Russia, and the Fram Strait situated between Greenland and Norway’s Spitsbergen Islands. These two straits are not only shipping lanes but also the principal routes for exchange of surface waters. The Arctic Ocean is ringed by seas. Principal among them are the Beaufort (shared by Canada and Alaska); Chukchi (between Alaska and Russia); the East Siberian, Laptev, and Kara Seas of Russia; and the Barents, bordered by both Russia and Norway. The liquid and solid nuclear wastes dumped by the Soviet Navy are located in the Barents and Kara Seas, in the Pacific Ocean along the east coast of Kam- chatka, and in the Sea of Japan. In addition, an island group called Novaya Zemlya which separates the Barents and Kara Seas was the site of most of the atmospheric and underground nuclear testing by the former Soviet Union. Other than Canada’s Mackenzie River, all the major rivers that flow into the Arctic’s adjacent seas are Russian, and more than 40 percent of that flow is to the Kara Sea. Russia’s Pechora, Ob, and Yenisey Riv- ers empty into the Kara Sea; its Kotuy and Lena Rivers, into the Laptev Sea; and the Indigirka and Kolyma, into the East Siberian Sea. The Pechora River, already severely polluted in some areas, has been under additional ecological threat from leaking oil pipelines, such as the Koma oil spill, which occurred early this year. Nuclear contamination created by facilities thousands of miles south in the Urals could possibly migrate to the Kara Sea and the mouths of the Ob and Yenisey Rivers. The waters of the Arctic, its sea ice, and sediments are sinks for pollutants. The water, ice, and air cur- rents serve as mechanisms for the transborder migration of pollutants (nuclear and otherwise) originating in all rim nations. Special characteristics of the Arctic region, such as low temperature, short and inten- sive growing seasons, a widely varying photocycle, permafrost, sea ice, and small number of species, make it very sensitive to environmental insult (6). Pollutants have long residence times, and because Arc- tic ecosystems are already under stress as a result of the harsh living conditions, they are highly sensi- tive. Food chains tend to be formed from very few species: therefore, they have large natural fluctuations and are more weakly balanced than those observed in temperate and tropical ecosystems (1). This report examines the environmental and into these marine environments, and radioactive human health impacts from nuclear wastes releases from both past and future nuclear activi- dumped in the Arctic (and, to a lesser extent, the ties in these regions. Questions about the envi- North Pacific), nuclear contaminants discharged ronmental and health impacts of these practices

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Other Regional Impacts from Soviet Nuclear Contamination, OTA-ENV-623 . recent years, as the Cold War and the nuclear eight Arctic circumpolar nations: the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland,.
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