554 



Atlantic Ocean 



northwestern part 2.94 PBq (79.4 kCi) 



northeastern part 42.3 PBq (1 143.0 kCi) 



Thus, for the period from 1946 to 1982, according to IAEA data, RW with a total activity of 

 about 46 PBq (1 24 MCi) has been dumped the world's oceans (not counting dumpings by the 

 USSR and Russia, which have not been reported either to the IAEA or to other international or- 

 ganizations to this day, and neglecting the sea dumping of liquid radioactive waste [LRW] from 

 nuclear fuel processing plants; cf Fig. 2). 



1.2.1. Data on Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea by Selected Countries 



Belgium. Between 1960 and 1982, Belgium (along with Great Britain) dumped low-level RW 

 in the North Atlantic, Bay of Biscay and English Channel. There were a total of 15 dumpings at 

 six sites. The 55,324 containers (weighing a total of 23,100 tonnes) contained a total of 2.12 PBq 

 (57.24 kCi). 



Great Britain, which has dumped three-quarters of all RW at sea, conducted 34 dumpings of 

 SRW between 1949 and 1982 at 15 sites in the North Atlantic, English Channel, and Bay of Bis- 

 cay and off the Canary Islands. The weight of the containers (their number has not been officially 

 reported) was 75,052 tonnes, and they contained a total activity of 35.1 PBq (949 kCi). 



It should be added that Great Britain has widely practiced the disposal of LRW from enter- 

 prises in the nuclear industry by discharge through pipelines into the Irish Sea. Fig. 3 shows total 

 annual discharges for "''Cs and tritium between 1970 and 1988 from one nuclear fuel processing 

 plant. 



The scale of the dumpings was so great (on the order of 1 MCi) that their effect could be 

 traced to the Barents and Kara Seas. 



Germany conducted one RW disposal operation in 1 967 in the North Atlantic. It dumped 480 

 containers weighing 185 tonnes with a total activity of 203 GBq (0.0055 kCi) at a minimum depth 

 of 2,500 meters. 



Korea performed dumpings between 1968 and 1972 at one site in the Sea of Japan. In all, 

 115 containers with a combined weight of 45 tonnes were dumped. No official data on activity are 

 available. 



Italy performed one RW dumping operation at one site in the North Atlantic at a depth of 

 about 4,000 meters in 1969. It dumped 100 containers weighing 44.7 tonnes with a total activity 

 ofl85 GBq (0.005 kCi). 



The Netherlands carried out 14 dumpings between 1967 and 1982 at four sites in the North 

 Atlantic at a depth of 3,200-5,200 meters. The dumpings were made in 28,428 containers 

 (weighing 19,162 tonnes) with a total activity of 336,000 GBq (9.08 kCi). 



New Zealand performed 1 1 dumpings between 1954 and 1976 at four sites in southern Cook 

 IiJet. Thirty-nine RW containers with a total activity of 1,040 GBq (0.028 kCi) were dumped. 



France has performed two RW dumpings at sea (in 1967 and 1969) at two disposal sites in 

 the Atlantic Ocean at depths of 4,000-5,300 meters. It sank 46,396 containers of RW (total 

 weight 14,299 tonnes) with a total activity of 353,000 GBq (9.54 kCi). In 1979, discharges from 

 French nuclear enterprises into the English Channel amounted to 920 GBq of plutonium [11]. 



Switzerland performed 12 RW dumpings between 1969 and 1982 at three sites in the North 

 Atlantic at depths of 3,600 to 4,700 meters. It dumped 7,420 containers weighing 5,321 tonnes 

 with a total activity of 4.42 PBq (119 kCi). 



12 



