142 



radioisotopes for hundreds of kilometers downstream. One of these 

 reactors remains operational today. 



Even though these facilities are not in the Arctic, their impact 

 has been observed in the region. All watersheds from these sites 

 flow to the Arctic Ocean, and waste from the polluted Techa River 

 reportedly was discovered in the Arctic as early as 1951. Moreover, 

 the waste handling practices at these sites were all too typical of 

 Soviet attitudes toward nuclear safety and the environment. 



The greatest single source of radioactive contamination of the 

 Arctic environment has been from nuclear weapons testing, espe- 

 cially atmospheric testing at the Novaya Zemlya test site in the 

 Arctic from 1955 to 1962. About half of the USSR's approximately 

 200 atmospheric tests were conducted at Novaya Zemlya. Virtually 

 all of their highest yield explosions were conducted there, with a 

 total yield of over 300 megatons. Among these was the world's larg- 

 est nuclear explosion in 1961, approximately 55 megatons, over 

 3,000 times the yield of the Hiroshima explosion. In addition to 

 sometimes severe local contamination from fallout, Soviet atmos- 

 pheric testing also was the greatest contributor to radioactive con- 

 tamination of Alaska and northern Canada. 



The severity of the contamination decreased dramatically after 

 the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty, especially in Alaska and Can- 

 ada, but Soviet underground nuclear weapons testing and peaceful 

 nuclear explosions continued. Russian statements indicate over 130 

 peaceful nuclear explosions for mining, seismic sounding, or cre- 

 ation of underground storage cavities, were conducted throughout 

 the Soviet Union. A few of these explosions were a part of the pro- 

 gram to develop the capability to excavate canals using nuclear ex- 

 plosions. These crater-producing explosions produced widespread 

 contamination. In an August 1987 test, for example, the concrete 

 plug placed to contain the explosion was blown out of the tunnel, 

 and radioactive material spewed into the atmosphere. Some of the 

 other explosions may have contaminated the local groundwater and 

 a few may have leaked radioactive materials. Except for tests at 

 Novaya Zemlya, which sometimes spread contamination into the 

 broader Arctic environment, these leaks probably produced only 

 limited local contamination. 



Soviet nuclear reactor accidents also have contributed to con- 

 tamination of the Arctic. Numerous studies have documented the 

 disproportionately heavy fallout in northern Norway, Sweden and 

 Finland from the Chernobyl accident in April 1986. Fifteen of the 

 Chemobyl-tj^e nuclear reactors remain in operation in the former 

 Soviet Union, and together with other types of old, unsafe Soviet- 

 designed reactors, comprise over half of the power reactors now op- 

 erating in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern 

 Europe. In the Arctic, four small reactors using similar technology 

 to the Chernobyl reactors are at the remote settlement of Bilibino 

 in the Russian Far East, and a power plant on the Kola peninsula 

 has four aging pressurized water reactors. The demise of the USSR 

 and its East European client governments has left all of the reac- 

 tors largely bereft of material support and regulatory guidance. 

 The situation is made worse by the region's severe economic prob- 

 lems, which are undermining efforts to maintain and improve safe 

 operations. 



