562 



priate extradepartmental government monitoring and supervision of nuclear safety in 

 the handling of RW). 



Thus, the information presented in this section of the report on normative acts regulating RW 

 disposal procedures in northern and far eastern seas shows that the USSR violated international 

 agreements in this area either completely or partially. The discrepancy between the USSR's ac- 

 tions and obligations under the London Convention, as stated more than once at closed interde- 

 partmental conferences held between 1983 and 1990 by Goskomgidromet and the USSR State 

 Committee for Nature, was not corrected at the level of the USSR Government. 



The legal side of all the departmental standards, regulations, and methodological instructions 

 permitting RW disposal at sea (in nonobservance of provisions of the London Convention binding 

 upon the USSR) requires special assessment from the legal standpoint. 



2.2. Russian Federation Law on Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea 



With the Russian Federation's assumption of the obligations of the USSR in the area of ob- 

 servance of international accords and agreements, the London Convention came to apply to Rus- 

 sia in fiill measure, and therefore, the disposal of RW at sea must be governed by generally accep- 

 ted international standards. 



The regulations for disposal of RW at sea that the Navy follows, and the areas where such 

 dumping has been conducted in the north and (partly) the far east are in sharp contradiction with 

 the London Convention, which invalidates all departmental instructions and regulations for Rus- 

 sia. 



This opinion is completely confirmed by the Russian Federation Law, Protection of the Natu- 

 ral Environment (December 1991), Art. 50 of which. Ecological Requirements in the Use of 

 Radioactive Materials, provides: 



"50.3. The import of radioactive waste and materials from other nations for storage or 

 disposal purposes, and the sinking or sending into space of radioactive waste and 

 materials for disposal purposes, is prohibited" [20]. 



Thus, this Law not only prohibits the disposal of RW in the territorial waters of the Russian 

 Federation, it prohibits any disposal of RW produced on Russian territory in any sea. 



2.3. Total Volume and Characteristics of 

 Radioactive Waste Dumped at Sea by the USSR between 1959 and 1991 



The first dumpings of RW in the USSR were connected with the run testing of NS's and the 

 nuclear icebreaker Lenin. In 1959, 600 m^ of low-level waste (20 mCi) was discharged in the 

 White Sea, and in 1960, the Lenin discharged 100 m^ of LRW (total activity 200 mCi) near 

 Gogland Island in the Gulf of Finland. 



The practice of regularly dumping LRW began in 1960, and the disposal of SRW in northern 

 and far eastern seas began in 1964. 



2.3.1. Disposal Sites, Volumes, and Total Activity of 

 Radioactive Waste Dumped by the USSR in Northern Seas 



This section reviews the situation with LRW discharges and the disposal of low-, intermedi- 

 ate-, and high-level SRW at sea. 



The data presented on the activity of sea-dumped SRW (excluding reactor components and 



20 



