Ocean disposal of radioactive waste

From 1946 through 1993, thirteen countries (fourteen, if the USSR and Russia are considered separately) used ocean disposal or ocean dumping as a method to dispose of nuclear/radioactive waste. The waste materials included both liquids and solids housed in various containers, as well as reactor vessels, with and without spent or damaged nuclear fuel. Since 1993, ocean disposal has been banned by international treaties. (London Convention (1972), Basel Convention, MARPOL 73/78)

However, according to the United Nations, some companies have been dumping radioactive waste and other hazardous materials into the coastal waters of Somalia, taking advantage of the fact that the country had no functioning government from the early 1990s onwards. According to one official at the United Nations, this caused health problems for locals in the coastal region and posed a significant danger to Somalia's fishing industry and local marine life.

"Ocean floor disposal" (or sub-seabed disposal)—a more deliberate method of delivering radioactive waste to the ocean floor and depositing it into the seabed—was studied by the UK and Sweden, but never implemented.

History

Data are from IAEA-TECDOC-1105. page 3-4

• 1946 First dumping operation at Northeast Pacific Ocean (about 80 km off the coast of California)
• 1957 First IAEA Advisory Group Meeting on Radioactive Waste Disposal into the Sea
• 1958 First United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS I)
• 1972 Adoption of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Convention 1972)
• 1975 The London Convention 1972 entered into force (Prohibition of dumping of high level radioactive waste.)
• 1983 Moratorium on low-level waste dumping
• 1988 Assessing the Impact of Deep Sea Disposal of Low-level Radioactive Waste on Living Marine Resources. IAEA Technical Reports Series No. 288
• 1990 Estimation of Radiation Risks at Low Dose. IAEA-TECDOC-557
• 1993 Russia reported the dumping of high level nuclear waste including spent fuel by former USSR.
• 1994 Feb-20 Total prohibition of disposal at sea came into force

1946–93

Data are from IAEA-TECDOC-1105. Summary of pages 27–120

Disposal projects attempted to locate ideal dumping sites based on depth, stability and currents, and to treat, solidify and contain the waste. However, some dumping only involved diluting the waste with surface water, or used containers that imploded at depth. Even containers that survived the pressure could physically decay over time.

Country total at the major site. SU: Soviet Union (39,243 TBq) and Russia (2.8v TBq), GB: UK (35,088 TBq), CH: Switzerland (4,419 TBq), BE: Belgium (2,120 TBq). US: United States of America (3,496 TBq), JP: Japan (15TBq), KR: South Korea (?TBq), NZ: New Zealand (1+TBq). France (354 TBq), Germany (0.2 TBq), Italy (0.2 TBq), the Netherlands (336 TBq), and Sweden (3.2 TBq) are within the GB marker.

The countries involved — listed in order of total contributions measured in TBq (TBq=10¹² Becquerel) — were the USSR, the UK, Switzerland, the US, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Russia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy and South Korea. Together, they dumped a total of 85,100 TBq (85.1x10¹⁵ Bq) of radioactive waste at over 100 ocean sites, as measured in initial radioactivity at the time of dump.

For comparison:

magnitude of radiation

• Global fallout of nuclear weapon tests — 2,566,087x10¹⁵ Bq.
• 1986 Chernobyl disaster total release — 12,060x10¹⁵ Bq.
• 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, estimated total aerial release — 11,346x10¹⁵ Bq.
• Fukishima Daiichi nuclear plant cooling water dumped (leaked) to the sea — TEPCO estimate 4.7x10¹⁵ Bq, Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission estimate 15x10¹⁵ Bq, French Nuclear Safety Committee estimate 27x10¹⁵ Bq.
• Naturally occurring Potassium 40 in all oceans — 14,000,000x10¹⁵ Bq.
• One container (net 400 kg) of vitrified high-level radioactive waste has an average radioactivity of 4x10¹⁵ Bq (Max 45x10¹⁵ Bq).

Ocean dumping of radioactive waste 1946–93

Country	dumped (unit TBq=1012 Bq）				period	num of sites, volume, etc.*
	Arctic	Atlantic	Pacific	Total
Soviet Union	38,369	0	874	39,243	1959–92	Arctic ; 20 sites, 222,000 m3 and reactor w or w/o spent fuel, Pacific Ocean (mainly sea of Japan); 12 sites, 145,000 m3
Russia	0.7	0	2.1	2.8	1992–93	Arctic ; 3,066 m3, Pacific Ocean 6,327 m3
Belgium	0	2,120	0	2,120	1960–82	NE Atlantic 6 sites, 55,324 containers, 23,100 tons
France	0	354	0	354	1967–69	NE Atlantic 2 sites, 46,396 containers, 14,300 tons
Germany	0	0.2	0	0.2	1967	NE Atlantic 1 site once, 480 containers, 185 tons
Italy	0	0.2	0	0.2	1969	NE Atlantic 1 site, 100 containers, 45 tons
Netherlands	0	336	0	336	1967–82	NE Atlantic 4 sites, 28,428 containers, 19,200 tons
Sweden	0	3.2	0	3.2	1959,61,69	Baltic sea 1 site, 230 containers, 64 tons, NE Atlantic 1 site, 289.5 containers, 1,080 tons,
Switzerland	0	4,419	0	4,419	1969–82	NE Atlantic, 3 sites, 7,420 containers, 5,321 tons
UK	0	35,088	0	35,088	1948–82	NE Atlantic 15 sites, ?? containers, 74,052 tons and 18 sites off coast of British isles more than 9.4 TBq
USA	0	2,942	554	3,496	1946–70	Mid/NW of Atlantic (9), Gulf of Mexico (2) total 11 sites, 34,282 containers, ? tones, Mid/NE of Pacific Ocean, total of 18 sites, 56,261 containers, ? tones
Japan	0	0	15.08	15.08	1955–69	South of main island, 6 sites 15 times, 3,031 containers, 606,000 m3
New Zealand	0	0	1.04	1.04	1954–76	East coast of New Zealand, 4 sites, 9 containers, 0.62 m3
South Korea	0	0	no data		1968–72	Sea of Japan, 1 site 5 times?, 115 container, 45 tons
Total	38,369	45,262	1,446	85,077		Subtotal of all volume reported is 982,394 m3.
*Some countries report the mass and volume of disposed waste and some just tonnage. The US did not report tonnage or volume of 90,543 containers.

Types of waste and packaging

Data are from IAEA-TECDOC-1105.

Liquid waste

• unpackaged and diluted in surface waters
• contained in package but not solidified

Solid waste

• low level waste like resins, filters, material used for decontamination processes, etc., solidified with cement or bitumen and packaged in metal containers
• unpackaged solid waste, mainly large parts of nuclear installations (steam generators, pumps, lids of reactor pressure vessels, etc.)

Reactor vessels

• without nuclear fuel
• containing damaged spent nuclear fuel solidified with polymer agent
• special container with damaged spent nuclear fuel (icebreaker Lenin by the former Soviet Union)

Ocean disposal (unit TBq = 10¹² Bq)

Waste type	Atlantic	Pacific Ocean	Arctic	total	note
Reactors with spent fuel	Nil	Nil	36,876	36,876
Reactors w/o fuel	1,221	166	143	1,530
Low Level solid	44,043	821	585	45,449
Low level liquid	<0.001	459	765	1,223
Total	45,264	1445	38,369	85,078

Dump sites

Data are from IAEA-TECDOC-1105.

Arctic

Mainly at the east coast of Novaya Zemlya at Kara Sea and relatively small proportion at Barents Sea by USSR. Dumped at 20 sites from 1959–92, total of 222,000 m³ including reactors and spent fuel.

Arctic Ocean dump sites of radioactive waste. SU: Soviet Union (38,369TBq), RU: Russia (0.7TBq), SE: Sweden.

North Atlantic

Dumping occurred from 1948 to 1982. 78% of dumping in the Atlantic was done by UK (35,088 TBq), followed by Switzerland (4,419 TBq), USA (2,924 TBq) and Belgium (2,120 TBq). Sunken USSR nuclear submarines are not included. see List of sunken nuclear submarines

137,000 tonnes were dumped by 8 European countries. USA reported neither tonnage nor volume for 34,282 containers.

B: Belgium (2,120 TBq), F: France (354 TBq), D: Germany (0.2 TBq), I: Italy (0.2 TBq), N: the Netherlands (336 TBq), S: Sweden (3.2 TBq), C: Switzerland (4,419 TBq), G:United Kingdom (35,088 TBq), US: United States of America (2,942 TBq), SU: Soviet Union.

Pacific Ocean

USSR 874 TBq, USA 554 TBq, Japan 15.1 TBq, New Zealand 1+ TBq and unknown amount by South Korea. 751,000 m³ were dumped by Japan and USSR. USA reported neither tonnage nor volume of 56,261 containers.

Dumping of contaminated water at 2011 Fukushima Nuclear accident (estimate 4,700–27,000 TBq) is not included.

JP: Japan (15.1 TBq), KR: South Korea (? TBq), NZ: New Zealand (1+ TBq), RU: Russia (2.1 TBq), SU: Soviet Union (874 TBq), US: United States of America (554 TBq)

East Sea

USSR dumped 749 TBq in the East sea, Japan dumped 15.1 TBq south of main island. South Korea dumped 45 tonnes (unknown radioactivity value) in the East sea.

Dump sites in the Sea of Japan. Sites off coast of Nakhodka are of USSR and RU=Russia.

Environmental impact

Data are from IAEA-TECDOC-1105.

Arctic Ocean

Joint Russian-Norwegian expeditions (1992–94) collected samples from four dump sites. At immediate vicinity of waste containers, elevated levels of radionuclide were found, but had not contaminated the surrounding area.

North-East Atlantic Ocean

Dumping was undertaken by UK, Switzerland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Italy. IAEA had been studying since 1977. The report of 1996 by CRESP suggests measurable leakages of radioactive material, and concluded that environmental impact is negligible.

North-East Pacific Ocean, North-West Atlantic Ocean dump sites of USA

These sites are monitored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So far, no excess level of radionuclides was found in samples (sea water, sediments) collected in the area, except the sample taken at a location close to disposed packages that contained elevated levels of isotopes of caesium and plutonium.

North-West Pacific Ocean dump sites of USSR, Japan, Russia and Korea

The joint Japanese-Korean-Russian expedition (1994–95) concluded that contamination resulted mainly from global fallout.

See also

• Grigory Pasko
• Nuclear fuel cycle
• Radioactive waste