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U.S. efforts in

by Congress for approximately $30 million

Radioactive Lakes

from 1993 to 1995, tentatively concluded

The expansion of the Soviet military-

Russia are proba-

that there was no imminent danger to the

industrial complex and the need for secrecy

bly simply mis-

western Arctic or Alaska.89 The now defunct

during the Cold War led to the creation of

guided because of

Office of Technology Assessment found in

several secret cities that would hold the main

1995 that "preliminary assessments do not

nuclear weapons production facilities of the

a poor conception

suggest a major, long-term impact on human

Soviet Union and be hubs for weapons and

of what environ-

health for the broad Arctic region from

space research. Those cities are closed, desig-

radioactive discharges that have already

nated with numbers to distinguish them

mental security

occurred."90 Similarly, a three-year study by

from the nearby towns from which they took

means and a lack

the International Atomic Energy Agency's

their names. Billions of gallons of high-level

of attention to its

International  Arctic  Seas  Assessment

radioactive waste from cities such as

Program said that "the future risks [from

Chelyabinsk-40 (site of the Mayak plant),

consequences.

dumped wastes] to population groups most

Tomsk-7, and Krasnoyarsk-26 have built up

likely to be exposed are also small" and that

in leaking tanks, nearby lakes, and under-

"no justification was found on radiological

ground storage caverns. Waste from

grounds for instituting a program of remedi-

Chelyabinsk-65 was dumped into reservoirs

al action in relation to the wastes."91

and nearby Lake Karachay. At Tomsk-7 and

This is not to say that the submarines still

Krasnoyarsk-26,  high-level  waste  was

awaiting decommissioning, and the current

pumped into underground caverns close to

major rivers, inviting disaster.9 3 Credible

nuclear storage crisis in northern Russia, do

not constitute a huge environmental hazard.

sources estimate that billions of curies of

radioactive waste are held at these sites.9 4 To

However, the studies do show that the effects

of nuclear wastes already dumped have been

put this in perspective, the Chernobyl reactor

relatively small and localized, and the prob-

disaster released about 5.8 million curies. U.S.

lem is more one for Russia and its neighbor,

facilities at Oak Ridge, Hanford, and

Norway, than for the United States.9 2 As a

Savannah River discharged about 2.6 million

curies during the Cold War, according to

result, it is difficult to see how the current sit-

Donald Bradley at the Pacific Northwest

uation in the Arctic threatens the United

National Laboratory.9 5 The worst-case sce-

States, so it may be hard for Russians to

understand why the United States is involved

nario is that the waste will start to leak out

in such sensitive activities.

and flow down the massive Ob and Yenisey

The cynics in Russia are not necessarily cor-

Rivers into the Kara Sea and out into the

rect about U.S. motives. Most likely, U.S.

Arctic Ocean where it might have devastating

efforts in Russia are simply misguided because

effects. There is already some evidence of

of a poor conception of what environmental

leakage, and some downstream areas of the

security means and a lack of attention to its

Yenisey show signs of heavy contamination.

consequences. But such cynicism is dangerous

Accidents are a constant threat.

when it brings resentment and antagonism.

While some foreign money, including

That cynicism is likely to be compounded by

CTR funding, has gone into improving the

the focus of American attentions and the fact

Mayak facility, little or no attention has been

paid to the other sites.96 In Krasnoyarsk, U.S.

that the northwestern nuclear problem is a

distraction from what may turn out to be a

involvement has focused instead on provid-

huge, and genuine, environmental threat to

ing alternative employment for nuclear scien-

the United States. Although most assistance is

tists under the Nuclear Cities Initiative. The

going to the nuclear waste problem in north-

program was severely criticized by a 1999

ern and northwestern Russia, it is in central

General Accounting Office report, which

Siberia that the greatest nuclear threat to the

claimed, among other things, that the pro-

environment is to be found.

gram was producing military benefits for

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