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There are two primary multilateral channels directly 

 applicable to addressing the contaminants in the Arctic. 



The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the 

 international organization charged, inter alia, with promoting 

 the safe use of nuclear energy and preventing radioactive 

 contamination from any such uses, including in the Arctic. 



At the regional level, efforts to address Arctic 

 contaminants have been centered within the Arctic Environmental 

 Protection Strategy (AEPS) , a cooperative program among the 

 United States and the seven other Arctic nations (Canada, 

 Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Russia) . A 

 primary objective of the Strategy is securing ongoing Russian 

 involvement, particularly in light of the extensive pollution 

 from past Soviet disposal of toxic waste and radioactive 

 material . 



The London Convention: 



The 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by 

 the Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (the London Convention) 

 is the primary international agreement controlling the 

 deliberate disposal of wastes at sea. The London Convention 

 prohibits the disposal at sea of high-level radioactive waste. 

 While the original provisions of the Convention permitted, under 

 special permit, the dumping of low level of radioactive waste, 

 the Parties adopted a voluntary moratorium on such disposal in 

 1985. However, concern arose both within the London Convention 

 forum and within the IAEA over reports of significant at sea 

 disposal of radioactive wastes by the Soviet Union and, later, 

 Russia. As a result, the government of Russia committed itself 

 to provide information and, in May 1993, released the Yablokov 

 Report (or the white Book). 



The Yablokov Report detailed Soviet and later Russian 

 disposal practices in the Kara and Barents Seas and in the Sea 

 of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan and North Pacific Ocean, from 1959 

 through 1992. These practices included past disposal of high 

 level wastes that violated the London Convention's ban and 

 ongoing disposal of low level wastes inconsistent with the 

 voluntary moratorium. 



In November 1993, the Parties to the London Convention 

 adopted an amendment that extended the prohibition on disposal 

 to low level radioactive wastes. Under Convention procedures, 

 the amendment would enter into force for all Parties, except for 

 those that declared within 100 days of adoption (that is, by 

 February 24, 1994) that they were unable to accept it. Russia 

 abstained on the adoption of the amendment and later filed an 



