80 



both high and low level radioactive wastes. We will focus our 

 comments on the situation in Northwest Russia, since Japan is 

 working on the problem in the Far East. 



This problem has become increasingly urgent as the number of 

 nuclear submarines taken out of operation (decommissioned) 

 increased. By early 1995, about 125 Russian submarines had been 

 decommissioned, mostly in the last five years, and another 40-80 

 nuclear submarines are expected to be decommissioned by the end 

 of the decade. Most of these submarines are attached to Russia's 

 North Navy in the Murmansk region of the Kola Peninsula. The 

 waste is being temporarily stored both on land and in floating 

 vessels, but this capacity is being rapidly exhausted and is 

 reported to be 90-95 percent full. 



EPA became active in this issue with the goal of 

 facilitating Russia's signing of the amended London Convention. 

 EPA's domestic concerns in the Arctic^ region have involved us in 

 programs which may appear outside of our authorities and mission. 

 Yet, environmental and national security interests in the Arctic 

 are linked, and we have therefore begun cooperative international 

 projects working with other federal agencies. 



In 1994, the United States and Norway began exploring with 

 Russia the possibility of expanding and upgrading the only 

 operational Russian LLRW processing facility. This facility, 



