25 



Mr. Weldon. Thank you, Dr. Yablokov. We will have questions 

 for you but we would like to hear from our distinguished Nor- 

 wegian panelist, Mr. Kare Bryn. 



STATEMENT OF KARE BRYN, DIRECTOR GENERAL/AMBAS- 

 SADOR, RESOURCES DEPARTMENT, NORWEGIAN MINISTRY 

 OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 



Mr. Bryn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. It 

 is a pleasure for me to participate in this hearing. I have prepared 

 a written statement for the record and I will highlight the main 

 points from that. 



My thesis is that the problem is not so much the waste already 

 dumped in the oceans but rather the spent nuclear fuel and radio- 

 active waste that in the future may end up in the marine environ- 

 ment unless urgent and decisive action is taken by the inter- 

 national community. 



To go back, Mr. Chairman, in spring 1994, the Norwegian Gov- 

 ernment presented the report to our parliament on the threat of 

 nuclear pollution in areas adjacent to our northern borders. The 

 background was the mounting evidence which had come to light 

 after the collapse of the Soviet Union of safety deficiencies at nu- 

 clear facilities, as well as practices of dumping nuclear structures 

 and radioactive waste in the ocean. Gradually, as contacts with the 

 Russian authorities developed, we also became aware of their prob- 

 lems with storage facilities and the management of radioactive 

 waste. 



The debate on this report in Parliament took place in June 1994, 

 and it led to a call for a plan of action and intensified cooperation 

 both with Russia and other countries in order to deal with the 

 problems. Such a plan was made public in March 1995. 



To follow up the plan of action, the parliament also authorized 

 approximately $20 million U.S. for this year and we expect that a 

 similar sum is to be available for the financial year 1996. 



So far, international cooperation has mainly focused on the oper- 

 ational safety of civilian nuclear powerplants. This, of course, is 

 natural in the light of the Chernobyl accident and involves the 

 amount of documentation available of unsatisfactory safety at East- 

 ern and Central European nuclear powerplants. The nuclear safety 

 accounts operated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and 

 Development was a timely response by the international commu- 

 nity to this challenge. 



Mr. Chairman, looking at the threat to the marine environment 

 which is the theme for this hearing, the situation is less clear and 

 far more complex both technically and politically. Today, we have 

 a very positive situation as far as the radioactivity in the northern 

 seas is concerned. For instance, I could mention that the level of 

 cesium- 137 in the Bering Sea is about seven becerel [?] per cubic 

 meter of water. This is the same level as can be found in the Atlan- 

 tic Ocean. The level is almost 15 times higher in the Irish Sea, 

 which no doubt is a result of the considerable emissions from the 

 Sellafield reprocessing plant in the United Kingdom. 



To preserve the favorable situation in the Bering Sea is very im- 

 portant, as here we find some of the richest fishing grounds in the 

 world. 



