Nuclear Wastes In The Arctic

Examines enviromental and human health impacts from wastes dumped in Arctic and North Pacific regions, from nuclear contaminants discharged into these environments, and from radioactive releases from both past and future nuclear activities in region.

This report examines the environmental and human health impacts from wastes dumped into the Arctic and North Pacific regions, from nuclear contaminants discharged into these environments, and from radioactive releases from both past and future nuclear activities in the region. The report presents what is known and unknown about this waste and contamination and how it may affect public health. Because so many factors are involved and science cannot provide absolute answers to many questions, this study emphasizes the need for care, caution, awareness, and prudence. It also stresses the need for a stable and enduring institutional framework and international cooperation for long term observation and monitoring.

This report examines the environmental and human health impacts from wastes dumped into the Arctic and North Pacific regions, from nuclear contaminants discharged into these environments, and from radioactive releases from both past and future nuclear activities in the region. The report presents what is known and unknown about this waste and contamination and how it may affect public health. Because so many factors are involved and science cannot provide absolute answers to many questions, this study emphasizes the need for care, caution, awareness, and prudence. It also stresses the need for a stable and enduring institutional framework and international cooperation for long term observation and monitoring.

The International Arctic Seas Assessment Project ( ASAP) was launched by the IAEA in 1993 in response to widespread concern arising from reports that the former Soviet Union had dumped radioactive waste in the Arctic Seas for more than thirty years. The objectives of IASAP were to assess the risk to human health and to the environment associated with the radioactive waste disposed of in the Kara and Barents Seas, and to examine the possible remedial actions related to the dumped waste and to advise on whether they are necessary and justified. Within the framework of IASAP, the Modelling and Dose Assessment Working Group was established to develop a predictive model for the dispersal of radioactive contaminants both within and from the Arctic Ocean and to evaluate the contributions of dominating transfer mechanisms to the dispersal and hence the risks to human health and the environment it. This report (IAEA-TECDOC-1330) summarizes the work undertaken by the Modelling and Dose Assessment Working Group between 1994 and 1996.

This book describes a new tool called the Generic Model System for simulations and assessment of potential radioactive spreading in the Arctic regions. It considers the present and future potential for spreading of radionuclear pollution from sources such as from the major Russian processing plants as well as from European sources such as the UK Sellafield plant. The book combines the expertise of professionals from the radionuclear and climate-change sciences.