[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               OCEAN RADIOACTIVE DUMPING BAN ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                            HON. CURT WELDON

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 7, 1995
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, currently the ocean dumping 
of radioactive waste is regulated under the Ocean Dumping Act [ODA] 
allows dumping of radioactive waste only after Congress has passed a 
joint resolution authorizing the dumping. Although this provision has 
been in force since 1985, Congress has yet to authorize any radioactive 
dumping.
  For decades, U.S. law on ocean pollution has been more stringent than 
international law. At the time of enactment, the radioactive dumping 
provisions in the ODA were among the most restrictive in the world, 
going well beyond international treaty obligations. That is no longer 
the case.
  The Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban Act corrects this, eliminating 
ODA's current arduous permitting process and replacing it with a simple 
ban. It ensures that the United States retains its leadership position 
in protecting the world's marine environment.
  The relevance of the United States banning radioactive dumping is 
far-reaching. Historically, the United States has set international 
policy on ocean dumping of radioactive waste. Until last year, the 
United States had resisted an international ban. Through U.S. 
influence, the issue was left unresolved.
  That all changed last November when the Clinton administration, 
following heavy lobbying from the Global Legislators Organization for a 
Balanced Environment [GLOBE] and other organizations, reversed U.S. 
policy and announced its support for a ban.
  Prompted largely by the new U.S. position, in November 1993, the 
parties to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by 
Dumping of Waste and Other Matter of 1972, known as the London 
Convention, amended annexes I and II to ban the deliberate ocean 
dumping of low-level radioactive waste. The Convention has always 
banned the dumping of high-level radioactive waste.
  During the 103d Congress, as the ranking Republican on the 
oceanography, Gulf of Mexico, and Outer Continental Shelf Subcommittee, 
and the newly appointed chairman of the GLOBE Ocean Protection Working 
Group, I have spent the last year working to eliminate the threat of 
radioactive contamination of the sea.
  On September 30, 1993, at my request, the Oceanography Subcommittee 
held a hearing on the threat of contamination from the Russian dumping 
of nuclear waste. For four decades the
 former Soviet Union, and now the Russian Federation has been dumping 
nuclear waste from nuclear submarines and weapons plants into the 
world's oceans. The information gathered by the subcommittee was 
sobering.

  The West's first concrete evidence on the dumping came last summer 
following the release of the Yablokov report which was commissioned by 
President Boris Yeltsin to detail the extent of Soviet nuclear disposal 
at sea. According to the report, the Soviet Union has dumped over 2.5 
million curies of radioactive waste into the Arctic Ocean and other 
marine environments. By comparison, the accident at Three Mile Island 
in my home State of Pennsylvania released 15 curies of radiation.
  During the hearing, the subcommittee discovered that since 1959, the 
former Soviet Union dumped into the ocean 18 nuclear reactors and a 
reactor screen, 11,000 to 17,000 canisters of nuclear waste, and 
hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid radioactive waste. It also 
learned that nuclear waste totaling 10 million curies is currently 
stored aboard vessels in Murmansk harbor.
  Although water quality monitoring in the Arctic suggests that large-
scale contamination of the ocean has yet to occur, our knowledge about 
the possibility of future leakage and transportation is very limited. 
Significant environmental contamination is a real possibility in the 
future.
  Even after the fall of communism, Moscow has continued to dispose of 
radioactive waste at sea. In October 1993, Russia dumped 900 tons of 
low-level radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan in violation of a 
previously agreed upon international moratorium. According to Japanese 
press accounts, high ranking Russian officials have admitted that ocean 
dumping is likely to persist.
  The Russian Federation's actions followed the October 1993 dumping 
have only reinforced these fears. Russia was one of only five nations 
to abstain from voting to approve the London Convention radioactive 
dumping ban in November 1993. Then, in February 1994, it became the 
only nation to declare its intention not to comply with the new 
international ban on dumping.
  Only through strong Western pressure will this change. But before we 
can pressure Russia, we have to act. That is why I reintroduced the 
Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban Act. This act will make U.S. law 
consistent with the London Convention by amending the ODA to ban the 
dumping of radioactive waste.
  As with the amendments to the Convention's annexes I and II, which 
contain provisions exempting de minimis radioactive waste from the ban, 
the Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban Act exempts de minimis waste from the 
ban. Since all matter is radioactive to some degree, a de minimis, or 
negligible, exemption is necessary to ensure that critical commercial 
activities such as dredging can continue.
  Although no uniform definition for de minimis waste currently exists, 
the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] has produced significant 
guidance on the issue and is working on an internationally recognized 
standard. Once an international standard is devised, I expect the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] will promulgate regulations on 
this issue based on the IAEA's efforts.
  Hopefully, with pressure from the United States, the Russian 
Federation can be convinced to change its policy. With 10 million 
curies of radiation stored aboard ships in Murmansk Harbor and awaiting 
disposal, the risk to the marine environment is significant if we fail. 
The Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban Act will significantly strengthen our 
position and will set an example as we further discuss such dumping 
with the Russian Federation.
  Clearly the world's oceans should not be used as nuclear disposal 
sites. I ask my colleagues to join me in sending a strong message to 
the rest of the world, and support the Ocean Radioactive Dumping Ban 
Act of 1995.


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