552 



gion by hazardous substances, including RW. 



The Convention on (he Protection of the Marine Ejivironment of the Northeastern Atlantic 

 (Paris, 1992) [8], signed by Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, 

 the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, imposes a ban on the dumping of RW in the sea 

 (Alt. 3, Para. 3a, Appendix II). However, Para. 3b of the same Appendix contains a stipulation 

 granting Great Britain and France the opportunity to reduce RW dumping in the sea through 

 2018* 



The Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution (Bucharest, 1992) [9], 

 signed by all Black Sea nations, including the Russian Federation, unconditionally bans the dispo- 

 sal of RW in the basin (Art X and the special Protocol on the Protection of the Black Sea from 

 Pollution Caused by the Disposal of Radioactive Waste in the Sea). 



1.2. Current Practice in Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea 

 by Countries Using Nuclear Power Technologies 



The major areas of disposal of solid radioactive waste (SRW) in the world's oceans are 

 shown in Fig. 2. The first disposal of RW at sea was carried out in 1946 by the U.S. in the north- 

 eastern Pacific Ocean at a distance of about 80 km from the California coast. 



The dumping of low-level SRW at sea began practically simultaneously with the wide 

 development of nuclear power and industry. Dumpings were initiated by Great Britain in 1949, 

 Japan in 1955, the Netherlands in 1965, and so on. By 1983, 1 countries (Table 1) were practicing 

 the dumping of SRW in the open sea. The last officially recorded disposal of RW at sea (not 

 counting dumpings by the USSR and Russia — see Section 3) was in 1982, in an area of the 

 Atlantic 550 km from the boundary of the European continental shelf 



Table 1. Characteristics of Radioactive Wastes Dumped in the World's Oceans 

 by Various Countries (omitting data for the USSR and Russia) [10]* 



* — Neglecting waste water from nuclear fiiel processing plants, lost nuclear warheads, and other sources of ioniz- 

 ing radiation, sunken nuclear submarines, and radionuclides that have entered the ocean as a result of underwater 

 nuclear explosions. 



* — If the Russian Federation signs this Convention, our obligations would concern part of the Barents Sea and all 

 ofthe White Sea. 



10 



