20 



ASET 



Job #58132348 



12/5/95 



For Use in the Testimony of Alexei V. Yablokov 



Conunittee on National Security 



U.S. House of Representatives 



December 6, 1995 



1. On the current state of rivers feeding the Northern Arctic Ocean 



There different types of pollution for the rivers in the various regions of the Russian 

 Arctic: 



Heavy metals (particularly mercury): the Northern Divina (the paper industry) and the 

 Aldan, a tributary of the Lena River (the gold refining industry); 



Petroleum products the Pechora River Basin; the Ob' River Basin; 



Phenols: the Northern Divina, the Pechora, the Lena; the Yana; the Indigirka and the 

 Kolyma Rivers (decaying wood). 



Radionuclides: the Yenisei (plutonium has been discovered at the mouth of the river due 

 to in-line cooling of military icactors at Krasnoyarsk-26); 



The Tobol River Basin (a tributary of the Ob' River) due to plutonium production at the 

 Mayak Production Association (CheIyabinsk-70); 



The Tom* River Basin (a tributary of the Ob' River) due to plutonium production at the 

 Siberian Chemical Mining Plant (Tomsk-7). 



2. The current state of research and methods of avoiding the influx of new 

 pollutants 



In the climate of very limited financial support characteristic of the current scientific 

 environment in Russia research on radioactive conditions in the Barents Sea and Kara Sea were 

 accelerated after the publication of the White Book on Radioactive Dumping in Russian Seas 

 (1993) Maritime expeditions are conducted annually. Two such expeditions were conducted in 

 conjunction with Norway. 



At the same time the network of observation posts along the rivers and Arctic coastline is 

 being curtailed due to budgetary financing shortfalls from the Russian State Committee on 



