441 



A. Zolctkov 



Dunging of Radioactive Waste at Sea 



Greenpeace/ RIA Moscow Deadly Legacy SenM.-.ar 



I am not ?oing to refute this statement, having no data on the radiation 

 in the 4iifs of Novaya Zemlya archipelago. However knowin? the habits of our 

 officials to make false statements. I think the best -.ay to calm down the 

 public doubts viii be to follow up the \ppeai of the 5th Extraordinary Session 

 of the Murmansk Soviet of People s Deputies from August 31. 1991. Ahich says. 

 "V\'e demand to solve the question of opening the archipelago and the adjacent 

 •Aaters. pnmardy for scientific research, taking into account that it has been 

 a fishing zone for the local population for hundreds of years." 



I am not sure the RAW dumped completely followed the requirements of 

 the IAEA. Thus in one of the gulfs there vas drowned a container Mth the 

 screen assembly of the icebreaker Lenin s nuclear installation unit: the 

 vitnesses state that the container could have no less than 100 spent fuel 

 assemblies. Another fact: in 1984 in the Abrosimov Gulf there was found a 

 -.ontainer Aith the radiation level of 160 r/hour. shich vas resunk in the iame 

 area after additional processing had been made. 



It would hardly be serious to try to compare the dumping depth with 

 IAEA recommendations, as these values for the Novaya Zemlya gulfs are limited 

 to a few dozen meters. The remoteness from land is also hardly worth 

 discussing. The seas routes in this region are blocked by the proximity of 

 the nuclear test site. Until recently the whole vast region of the northern 

 seas was somehow viewed as Soviet property — as a kind of an inner sea 

 which could be worked in as is thought best. 



But the time has changed. Without concealing past mistakes and taking 

 responsibility of the past actions, we should open all data regarding the 

 activity of the nuclear authority at sea. We need normal civUian research, not 

 the secret expeditions. 



The experience of the Chernobyl catastrophe shows that the attempts to 

 conceal the truth end without results. Similarly, we will eventually get a full 

 picture of the Novaya Zemlya testing ground and RAW sea dumping although it 

 may take years and some facts may be lost. 



I would not like to see the atmosphere of hot publications and 

 sensational articles round the Novaya Zemlya affair — it will only hamper^ 

 serious research, and today the specialist's work has lost part of its respect 

 as it is. At the same time it is high time to understand that without the 

 qualified personnel and modern technology the development of nuclear science 

 IS impossible. 



Even if we shut all nuclear objects today, their saife decommissioning 

 will take dozens of years and more than one square kilometer of the country's 

 territory. This is axiomatic. And we have no possibility to launch RAW to the 

 sun, as of yet. 



