Ocean Dumping
Governments world-wide were urged by the 1972 Stockholm Conference
[external link] to control the dumping of waste in "their oceans" by
implementing new laws. The United Nations met in London after this
recommendation to begin the Convention on the Prevention of Marine
Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter [external link] which was
implemented in 1975. The International Maritime Organization was given
responsibility for this convention and a Protocol was finally adopted in 1996, a
major step in the regulation of ocean dumping.
Stockholm Conference
http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?
DocumentID=97&ArticleID=1506&l=en
Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of
Wastes and Other Matter
http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/LCLP/Documents/LC1972.pdf
The disposal of nuclear waste into the world’s oceans
By Patrick Kozakiewicz January 27, 2014
http://www.cbrneportal.com/thedisposal-of-nuclear-waste-into-the-worlds-oceans/
Humans have been altering the oceans for millennia. Up till now, five critical
environmental issues have affected the oceans: over-fishing, chemical
pollution and eutrophicaion, habit destruction, invasion of alien species and
global climate change. However, one of the major threats the oceans may
face in the twenty-first century is radioactive pollution.
The Wall St. Journal has recently claimed that plutonium levels are 1,000
times above normal on the seafloor 50 miles from San Francisco where
50,000 containers of radioactive waste lay at the bottom of the seafloor after
steel barrels of nuclear material were disposed of a few decades ago. They
also claimed this is globally significant and is impacting the ecosystem. This
is a first study of this kind.
After World War II, for many decades, the nuclear industries used the oceans
as a dumping ground. It was only two decades ago that dumping from ships
was internationally banned.
From 1946 through 1993, thirteen nuclear capable countries used the ocean
as an ends to dispose of nuclear/radioactive waste. The waste materials
included industrial, medical and weapons, both liquids and solids housed in
various containers, as well as reactor vessels, with and without spent or
damaged nuclear fuel.
The United States alone dumped vast quantities of nuclear material off its
coasts between 1946 and 1970—more than 110,000 containers. More
specifically, for up to 15 years after World War II, the USS Calhoun County
dumped thousands of tons of radioactive waste into the Atlantic Ocean, often
without heeding the simplest health precautions. In order to make sure the
waste-containing drums sank, the sailors would sometimes shoot them with
rifles. On top of that in the Pacific, there is an estimated 47,000 containers
which lie at the bottom of the ocean floor near San Francisco and Japan has
also disposed of a magnitude of radioactive waste into the ocean.
Russia, on the other hand, dumped some 17,000 containers of radioactive
waste, 19 ships containing radioactive waste, 14 nuclear reactors, including
five that still contain spent nuclear fuel; 735 other pieces of radioactively
contaminated heavy machinery, and the K-27 nuclear submarine with its two
reactors loaded with nuclear fuel. The K-27 sank in 1989 and is currently
resting on the floor of the Barents Sea, one mile deep, with its nuclear reactor
and two nuclear warheads. In total, there are now 6 nuclear submarines lying
at the bottom of the Oceans, lost as a result of failure – 4 Russian and 2
American.
In Europe alone, some 28,500 containers of radioactive waste were dropped
into the English Channel between 1950 and 1963 by European states, some
of which are being now discovered to have leaks. In addition, lots of
radioactive waste was disposed of off the coast of Japan and in the South
Korean Sea. In all honesty, every nuclear nation, to some extent or another,
could be possibly linked to the dumping of radioactive waste, and, most of
them to that of the oceans. Collectively the known containers from Europe, let
alone the rest of the world, translate to hundreds of thousands of tons of
radioactive waste. It is like having a tooth x-ray every time you enter your
bath – and yet that is too much.
While in Europe waste was all supposed to be disposed of in waters at least
4,000 meters deep, many of the ship log documents are inaccurate or are left,
“incomplete or unknown” in the location of the dump, sometimes dumped
even in water only 100 meters deep and only miles away from the coast.
Also, the captain’s main concerns were the safety of the crew not about the
exact location of the dump. The barrels of waste were radioactive and the
crew was getting radioactive doses. Therefore, once the radioactive safe
zone timer was up, the crew just dumped the barrels regardless of location.
The issue here is how one checks the current radioactive leakages and levels
of the waste if the locations are unknown.
NCT CBRNe Asia
It wasn’t until 1993 that nuclear and radioactive ocean disposal had been fully
banned and ratified by international treaties. (London Convention, Basel
Convention, MARPOL). Beyond technical and political considerations, the
London Convention places prohibitions on disposing of radioactive materials
at sea and does not make a distinction between wastes dumped directly into
the water and waste that is buried underneath the ocean’s floor. It also does
not exclude dumping radioactive waste through pipelines, which companies in
Europe are actually doing. Some claim that populations of humans located
near these pipelines are 10 times more likely to die of cancers. While others
state the risks are insignificant.
It seems that the general consensus is that storing radioactive waste in the
ocean is harmful to the organisms that inhabit the ocean and to humans as
well due to radiation and in addition it is a rather expensive process. Poor
insulation of the containers, leaks, volcanic activity, tectonic plate movement,
limited locations, and several other factors prove that storing radioactive
waste in the oceans has a potential of becoming a catastrophe. Yet for some,
it is more practical than alternatives such as storing it on land or launching
rockets off towards the sun.
Nevertheless, many argue that ocean-based approaches to the disposal of
nuclear waste have significant advantages. First, disposing waste at the
bottom of the ocean is hard for terrorists, rebels, or criminals to steal for use
in radiological weapons or in nuclear bombs. The world’s oceans also have a
vastly greater dilutive capacity than any single land site in the event of
unintended leaks.
In the US for example, Federal officials have long maintained that, despite
some leakage from containers, there isn’t evidence of damage to the wider
ocean environment or threats to public health. The Wall Street Journal review
of decades of federal and other records has found many unanswered
questions and evidence which proves otherwise. It is also well documented
by the scientific community, that even lose doses of radioactive exposer can
increase the rates of cancers. However, more specifically, endocrine disruptor
in form of radioactivity can cause cancer in the same manner, as it can cure
cancer.
The 1993 Treaty remains in force up until 2018, after which the sub-seabed
disposal option can be revisited, creating new opportunities for nuclear waste
disposal and a more potentially radioactively ocean. Companies are already
writing up plans to convince the public and governments about the
importance and safety of ocean-floor disposals.
Back then, and even now, many believed the ocean is fair game when it
comes to radioactive waste. Especially since the impact of radioactivity on
human health was largely underestimated. Fortunately the case is not the
same today. While radioactive and nuclear waste is no longer disposed from
ships into the oceans, great risks still remain.
Russia Dumped 19 Radioactive Ships Plus 14 Nuclear Reactors Into the
Ocean
Posted on September 18, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog (Multiple in text links to
sources in online article)
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/09/russiadumped-19-radioactive-ships-plus-14-nuclear-reactors-into-the-ocean.html
Government Dumping of Nuclear Waste Still Poses a Threat … Decades
Later
Governments – including both Russia and the United States – have been
covering up nuclear meltdowns for 50 years and covering up the dangers of
radiation for 67 years.
Governments have also covered up dumping of nuclear waste in the ocean.
As the International Atomic Energy Agency notes, 13 countries used ocean
dumping to “dispose” of radioactive waste between 1946 and 1993.
Since 1993, ocean disposal has been banned by agreement through a
number of international treaties, including the London Convention of 1972,
the Basel Convention, and MARPOL 73/78.
Wikipedia notes:
According to the United Nations, some companies have been dumping
radioactive waste and other hazardous materials into the coastal waters of
Somalia [well after the treaties were signed], taking advantage of the fact that
the country has had no functioning government from the early 1990s
onwards. This has caused health problems for locals in the coastal region
and poses a significant danger to Somalia’s fishing industry and local marine
life.
Wikipedia also provides a breakdown by region:
[North Atlantic] 78% of dumping at Atlantic Ocean is done by UK
(35,088TBq), followed by Switzerland (4,419TBq), USA (2,924TBq) and
Belgium (2,120TBq). Sunken USSR nuclear submarines are not included.
***
