Black Magma : L'informazione d'inchiesta di Madre Terra Paesi Vesuviani: Sites of radioactive waste

Arctic

Mainly at the east coast of Novaya Zemlya at Kara Sea and relatively small proportion at Barentz Sea by

USSR

. Dumped at 20 sites from 1959–92, total of 222x10³m³ 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 (35,088TBq), followed by Switzerland (4,419TBq), USA (2,924TBq) and Belgium (2,120TBq). Sunken USSR nuclear submarines are not included 137x10³tonnes were dumped by 8 European countries.

USA

reported neither tonnage nor volume for 34,282 containers.

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

Pacific Ocean

USSR 874TBq, USA 554 TBq, Japan 15.1TBq, New Zealand 1+TBq and unknown amount by South Korea. 751x10³m³ 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 4,700-270,00TBq) is not included.

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

Sea of Japan

USSR

dumped 749TBq in the Sea of Japan,

Japan

dumped 15.1TBq south of main island. South Korea dumped 45 tonnes (unknown radioactivity value) in the Sea of Japan.

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

Environmental impact

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, German and

Italy

. IAEA had been studying since 1977. In the report of 1996 by CRESP suggests measurable leakages of radioactive material but 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.

Ocean dumping of radioactive waste 1946-93
Country	dumped (unit TBq=10¹²Bq）				period	num of sites, volume, etc.*
Country	Arctic	Atlantic	Pacific	Total	period	num of sites, volume, etc.*
USSR	38,369	0	874	39,243	1959-92	Arctic ; 20 sites, 222x10³m³ and reactor w or w/o spent fuel, Pacific Ocean (mainly sea of Japan); 12 sites, 145x10³m³
Russia	0.7	0	2.1	2.8	1992-93	Arctic ; 3,066m³, Pacific Ocean 6,327m³
Belgium	0	2,120	0	2,120	1960-82	NE Atlantic 6 sites, 55,324 containers, 23.1x10³tons
France	0	354	0	354	1967-69	NE Atlantic 2 sites, 46,396 containers, 14.3x10³tons
Germany	0	0.2	0	0.2	1967	NE Atlantic 1 site once, 480 containers, 185tons
Italy	0	0.2	0	0.2	1969	NE Atlantic 1 site, 100 containers, 45tons
Netherlands	0	336	0	336	1967-82	NE Atlantic 4 sites, 28,428 containers, 19.2x10³tons
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, 606x10³m³
New Zealand	0	0	1.04	1.04	1954-76	East coast of New Zealand, 4 sites, 9 containers, 0.62m³
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 982,394m³.
*Some countries report the mass and volume of disposed waste and some just tonnage. The US did not report age or volume of 90,543 containers.