Radioactivity - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 64

from Murmansk. Financing of the decontamination and demolition of the Lepse
(which will take place in a specially constructed building) is now being financed
by the European Bank for Reconstruction and the Northern Environment Partner-
ship Programme.

· Setting up facilities to manage the defuelling and dismantlement of a Papa class

nuclear submarine, including the manufacture of defuelling equipment.

· Upgrading the radiation monitoring and radiation emergency response system for

the Arkhangelsk region.

TheseexamplesofcooperativeactionsbetweentheRussianFederation,othercountriesand
international financial mechanisms by no means exhaust the list. Countries recognized the
serious risks posed by the high density of potential sources of radioactive release in the
Barents Region and pulled together to address the challenge. Nothing of this nature can
happen without funding and a number of financial mechanisms have been created for this
purpose, in addition to those I have described, such as the Arctic Council's Project Support
Instrument. There is a great deal more to be done, but back in 1993, I would never have
predicted that so much unsecured nuclear waste would be safely dealt with by 2008.
Radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs): Thermoelectric generators
powered by a radioisotope source were installed in remote Arctic locations in the former
Soviet Union and Alaska to provide electrical power (usually for isolated marine navig-
ation beacons). By the time of the 1998 AMAP assessment, the 10 remaining RTGs in
Alaska were all located at a seismic monitoring station operated by the U.S. Air Force on
Burnt Mountain. After 2001, they were replaced by solar-powered equipment. According
to the AMAP 2009 assessment, the Russian (formerly Soviet) RTGs were located at that
time on the Baltic coast (111); north European Arctic coast (1020); north-east Sea Route
(422); and the far-eastern coast of Russia (217). The radioisotope heat sources in the U.S.
and Russian RTGs were usually 90 Sr (strontium-90) in the form of a solid ceramic that is
strong, fire resistant and has a low solubility in water. It has been calculated that the Russi-
an RTGs produced an activity ranging from 0.7 to 15 PBq. This is a sufficiently high level