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1983. The Japanese delegation, which is investigating actively 

 the prospect of sea disposal of radioactive waste in the Pacific 

 Ocean, also advised the Parties that an earlier offer not to 

 begin dumping in the next two years should be ignored. 



Despite the protestations by the dumping nations, no 

 radioactive wastes have been dumped at sea this year, nor is any 

 expected. This past spring, the Netherlands government announced 

 that it would abide by the moratorium, stating that land-based 

 alternative sites will be used. During the spring and summer, 

 the transport trade unions in the U.K., led by the National Union 

 of Seamen, adopted resolutions to boycott the handling or 

 transport — by road, rail or sea — of any radioactive wastes 

 slated for sea disposal. Agreement among those trade unions was 

 reached by early July. That was followed by a formal nation-wide 

 Trade Union Congress (TUC) boycott resolution that was adopted in 

 early September by a vote of 7 million members in favor and 2.5 

 million members against, including a call for the support of 

 other affiliated unions.^ The boycott covers both 1983' and 



1984, referencing the Parties' scientific inquiry and calling 

 upon the U.K. government to investigate long-term alternatives to 

 sea dumping. The courageous and exemplary action by the U.K. 

 unions led to similar boycotts by transport unions in Switzerland 



and Belgium. 



j 



As a culmination to those trade union efforts, a similar 

 boycott resolution was presented last week to the 34th Congress 



^ A copy of the TUC Resolution has been provided to the 



Subcommittee staff 



