Radioactivity - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 49

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)
Assessments
Assessments of the state of Arctic environmental radioactivity began in August 1993,
when the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) and the Department of Radi-
ation Physics in Lund, Sweden, organised an international conference on the topic, held in
Kirkenes, Norway, in August 1993. This was one of the first meetings that made extensive
Russian information available for international review. The proceedings were published in
December of the same year. As a legacy from the then-fading Cold War, Russia communic-
ating with and giving environmental radioactivity information to Norway was more accept-
ableatthattimetobothoftheoldColdWarprotagoniststhanwasdirectliaisonwithagroup
of countries.
Subsequently, AMAP has published comprehensive assessments of radioactivity in the
circumpolar Arctic in 1998, 2002 and 2009. The driving force behind each of these reports
was Per Strand of the NRPA. Several reports were also co-produced by AMAP and other
organisations usually associated with practical remedial projects to address specific radiolo-
gical issues within the Arctic.
To simplify the summarizing of present knowledge, I have roughly followed the lead of
AMAP and have categorized our survey into historical, existing and potential anthropogenic
sources, along with natural sources of radiation in the circumpolar Arctic.