95 



STATEMENT OF 

 REAR ADMIRAL MARC PELAEZ 

 CHIEF OF NAVAL RESEARCH 



Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Subcommittee and 

 staff, I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the impact of 

 radioactive waste disposed in the marine environment by the 

 Former Soviet Union, and to discuss the Office of Naval 

 Research's Arctic Nuclear Waste Assessment Program (ANWAP) . 



OVERVIEW 



In the early 1990 's, new information on environmental 

 conditions in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) became available. 

 One revelation concerned the large quantities of radioactive 

 waste disposed in the marine environment and in the catchment 

 basins of several Arctic river systems. The 1993 Yablokov Report 

 to the President of Russia officially documented the scope of the 

 radioactive waste problem and described disposal sites of both 

 high and low level waste in both the Arctic and North Pacific. 

 Other potential sources of radioactive contamination in the 

 Arctic are the nuclear fuel processing facilities and nuclear 

 power reactors in the water sheds of the Ob and Yenisey Rivers. 

 These facilities have deposited significant waste into the 

 environment with risk of contamination of the river systems 

 draining into the Arctic Basin. 



ARCTIC NUCLEAR WASTE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM 



The ANWAP was initiated in 1993 as a result of U.S. 

 Congressional concern over the disposal of nuclear materials by 

 the Former Soviet Union into the Arctic marine environment. 

 Total funding has been $30 million dollars over 3 years. The 

 science and technology aspects of ANWAP are conducted by the 

 Ocean, Atmosphere and Space Modeling and Prediction Division of 

 the Office of Naval Research. ANWAP objectives are to determine: 



a) the magnitude and location of radioactive waste in the 

 Arctic marine environment; 



b) the transport pathways of radioactive contamination 

 through the Arctic basin and the present levels away 

 from the various contamination sources; and 



c) the impact on the environment and human health from 

 observed and projected radioactive contamination. 



ANWAP emphasizes impact on Alaska, and has strong linkages 



