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Section 2. Radioactive Waste Disposal in Seas Adjacent to 

 THE Territory of the Russian Federation 



The nuclear arms race and the development of nuclear power have raised the problem of 

 handling large quantities of RW, whose solution has never received special attention. This has 

 caused significant contamination of the territories of nuclear power enterprises and the environ- 

 ment. 



The USSR's creation of a nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet and deployment of a fleet of NS's 

 have forced it to find disposal sites for the RW produced. 



In the atmosphere of the cold war, this problem was not given priority, and the simplest solu- 

 tion was to dispose of RW directly in the sea, which was practiced widely by most countries with 

 developed nuclear industries. 



After the London Convention took effect, the USSR took a series of steps aimed at comply- 

 ing with international standards and the obligations it had assumed in this area. In 1979, the 

 Council of Ministers adopted Resolution 222, Measures to Ensure Performance of the Soviet 

 Side's Obligations Following from the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Pollution of the 

 Sea by Discharges of Wastes and Other Materials. 



RW discharges from facilities of the Murmansk Marine Shipping Line were gradually reduced 

 and then completely halted. However, steps to halt RW discharges from Naval facilities were not 

 taken. The reasons were the inefficient system of handling RW in the country as a whole, the 

 Navy's lack of RW processing equipment, the insufficient capacity of shore storage facilities, and 

 the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs' mishandling of the concept "immunity of warships," which 

 allowed it to regard RW discharges from Naval vessels as not violations of the requirements of 

 the London Convention. 



2.1. Normative Documents That Regulated 

 Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea in the USSR 



The first normative document in this area was the 1960 Temporary Sanitary Requirements 

 for Discharge of Liquid Wastes Containing Long-Lived Radioactive Substances into the Sea 

 from Naval Facilities. It was prepared by the Navy in concert with the USSR Ministry of Medium 

 Machine-Building and the Third Main Administration of the USSR Ministry of Public Health, and 

 was predicated on ensuring that discharges of RW into the sea complied with sanitary and hygien- 

 ic standards existing at the time. 



In 1962, a new version of the Requirements appeared. It regulated the amount of LRW that 

 could be discharged in terms of volume (not over 1,000 m'), volumetric activity (not over 50 

 (iCi/l (1850 kBq/l), for short-lived isotopes and not over 10 nCi/l (370 kBq/l), for short-lived 

 isotopes), and total activity (not over 10 Ci). It stipulated that ships be outfitted with equipment 

 to dilute RW by at least 250% during dumping. Direct discharges of RW firom NS's were permit- 

 ted only in case of emergency. 



In 1965, the Navy implemented new regulatory measures permitting the dumping of LRW 

 from NS's outside the 10-mile limit, discharge of secondary-loop water and waste water with an 

 activity of less than 10 nCi/l (370 Bq/I). These measures also provided for the possibility of dis- 

 posing of SRW in metal containers without special shielding, and large pieces of waste without 

 containers. The Northern and Pacific Fleet Commands were charged with selecting areas for dis- 



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