Radioactivity - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 65

of activity that in the event of direct exposure, death could occur in a relatively short period
of time. Due to the remote location of the RTGs, little or no security arrangements protec-
ted them which made them potentially vulnerable to thieves who have tried to gain access
to the generators or to other materials. One RTG was lost in the sea off Sakhalin Island in
1987 and two more were accidently dropped from a helicopter during transport in 2004. No
loss of 90 Sr was detected as a result of these accidents.
Although the safety record of RTGs has been high, their vulnerability to interference
andconsequential riskof 90 Srrelease was highlighted inthe AMAP1998and2002reports.
A similar collaborative recovery, disposal and replacement programme, as we have just ex-
amined with respect to obsolete nuclear submarines, has now been put in place. Therefore,
the AMAP 2009 assessment was able to report extensive removal and decommissioning
of RTGs from Arctic Russia, mainly through cooperation between Russia, Norway and the
United States but also involving Finland and Canada.
Evaluation of contributions to environmental radioactivity in the Arctic from
Russian nuclear facilities in Siberia (Mayak, Tomsk-7 and Krasnoyarsk-26): Three
large nuclear facilities have been operating in central Russia for more than 50 years. They
are of interest relative to the Arctic because they have routinely discharged nuclear wastes
intoriversystemsthatultimatelyflowintotheArcticOcean.ThethreefacilitiesareMayak,
Tomsk-7 and Krasnoyarsk-26. Until the birth of the Russian Federation, it was difficult to
obtain sufficient information about these facilities in order to evaluate their significance
as sources of radioactivity to the Arctic Ocean. After the advent of glasnost, this situation
changed. Largely through the work of a joint Russian-Norwegian expert group, it became
possible for the 1998 and 2002 AMAP radioactivity assessments to examine these sites in
an Arctic context.
The Mayak facility was originally built to produce weapons-grade plutonium and dis-
charged intermediate-level waste directly into Lake Kyzyltash. The Techa River is the out-
flow from this lake, which eventually reaches the Ob River at Khanty-Mansiysk (via the
Iset, Tobol and then the Irtysh rivers). The Ob ultimately flows into the Kara Sea. In the
early years, the Asanov Swamp along the banks of the upper Techa River acted as a fil-