Steps toward ending radioactive dumping in oceans
By Barry Healy
On the final day of the meeting of the OSPAR Convention on September 5 in Brussels, the British and French governments for the first time agreed to moves to end marine nuclear pollution.
The OSPAR Commission regulates marine pollution in the north-east Atlantic. The two countries' nuclear reprocessing plants at La Hague, Sellafield and Dounreay contribute over 90% of the radioactivity discharged into the north-east Atlantic.
In a major policy shift, both governments indicated that they would accept continuous reductions in these discharges, with the ultimate aim of reaching concentrations in the environment near background values.
The move followed an announcement by the British environment minister on September 2 that government policy would now be based on "a general presumption against sea disposal", for radioactive and hazardous substances and offshore installations.
Britain also made a commitment to demonstrate how it would meet its obligations to reduce discharges of the radioactive substance technetium-99, which has been building up rapidly in lobsters in the Irish Sea off Sellafield.
The UK and France also gave up their "opt out" on the OSPAR ban on ocean dumping of radioactive wastes.
"Greenpeace welcomes the significant steps made this week by the UK and France", Remi Parmentier of Greenpeace International said. "They now move towards the majority of countries who accept the need to protect the marine environment by ending all discharges and dumping at sea."
A number of important outstanding questions — especially the period for implementation — remain open. Final agreements will be signed, during the United Nations "Year of the Ocean" in 1998.