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STATEMENT OF ADM. RICHARD GUIMOND, DEPUTY ASSIST- 

 ANT ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF SOLID WASTE AND EMER- 

 GENCY RESPONSE, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

 AGENCY 



Admiral GuiMOND. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss EPA's 

 efforts to address radioactive £ind other threats to the Arctic result- 

 ing from past Soviet activities. In your letter of invitation, you re- 

 quested that I address the potentisd environmental and human 

 health aspects of both Alaska and the Arctic of the past nuclear 

 and the ongoing industrial activities of the former Soviet Union. I 

 am pleased to be able to address these issues today. 



My testimony this morning will focus on three issues: What EPA 

 knows about pollution in the Arctic, what we have done in the past 

 on marine radioactivity pollution issues, and what EPA thinks is 

 necessary to be done in the future. 



I'll begin with current knowledge about Arctic contamination. 

 While EPA considers the issue of radioactive contamination of the 

 Arctic to be of considerable importance, at present we do not have 

 extensive information about the extent and type of radioactive con- 

 tamination found in the Arctic. In addition, we do not have exten- 

 sive information about other types of contamination that may be 

 damaging to the Arctic. Because of the lack of such comprehensive 

 data, it is difficult to say with much precision the extent of risk to 

 human health and the environment caused by such contamination. 

 However, I would like to describe the relevant types of information 

 that we currently have. 



EPA has been involved in monitoring studies at former ocean dis- 

 posal sites in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Monitoring surveys were 

 conducted from surface vessels as well as from manned and un- 

 manned submersibles. We have also evaluated monitoring data 

 from a former European international dump site. This particular 

 facility accepted nuclear and other wastes from several European 

 countries. 



EPA has undertaken several initiatives, often in cooperation with 

 NOAA, in studying past radioactive waste disposal activities. One 

 important task was to locate and identify waste contaminant pack- 

 ages on the sea floor. In addition, EPA has participated in making 

 detailed measurements of the concentrations of both naturally-oc- 

 curring and manmade radionuclides in the disposal areas, examin- 

 ing and evaluating performance of the waste packaging in the ma- 

 rine environment, and evaluating the state of the environment to 

 determine if there was a threat to human health through various 

 marine transport pathways. 



The studies found that the transport and uptake of radioactive 

 contaminants in the food chain was dependent on the specific 

 radionuclides. Some radionuclides are not as easily available for 

 bioaccumulation or bioconcentration by plants and animals in the 

 food chain. For example, many radionuclides such as plutonium ad- 

 sorb to the ocean sediment. Such radionuclides are much less avail- 

 able to marine organisms, except for those benthic organisms that 

 ingest this sediment. In contrast, strontium-90 is highly mobile, 

 and would therefore be more available to organisms that do not 

 dwell on the bottom, such as plankton and salmon. 



