Nairobi,
26 April 2006 - Twenty years ago, in the night
from 25 to 26 April 1986, the world's largest
ever nuclear accident occured at the Chernobyl
nuclear power station in what is today Ukraine.
The effects of the accident continue to affect
the lives of people in Ukraine, neighbouring Belarus
and Russia, and across the northern hemisphere.
UNEP is associated with the
UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic
Radiation (UNSCEAR), based in Vienna, Austria,
which is working to provide better understanding
of the impact of the radiological consequences
of the Chernobyl accident. The Committee also
participates in the work of the Chernobyl Forum,
launched to review radiation-induced health effects
from the accident and to contribute to the United
Nations strategy for recover.
UNSCEAR assesses global and
regional exposures to ionizing radiation from
nuclear power production, military, industrial
and research activities, accidents, natural radiation,
and medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
It also reviews advances in scientific understanding
of the mechanisms by which radiation-induced health
effects can occur. The Committee’s assessments
provide the scientific basis for relevant UN agencies
to formulate radiation protection standards. 2006
also marks the 50th anniversary of the creation
of UNSCEAR.
ON 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHERNOBYL DISASTER, SECRETARY-GENERAL
SAYS GENEROUS SUPPORT
FOR TRAUMATIZED COMMUNITIES
BEST WAY TO HONOUR VICTIMS
The following statement was issued by the Spokesman
for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the twentieth
anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster:
Today marks the twentieth anniversary
of the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear power
plant accident in history. As we look back over
the past two decades, we need to remember the
selfless heroism of the emergency workers who
responded to the accident; the suffering of the
more than 330,000 people who were resettled from
contaminated regions; the risks and fears experienced
by millions of people living in surrounding areas;
and the painstaking and costly measures undertaken
over many years to limit the population’s exposure
to radiation and to mitigate the accident’s impact
on health and the natural environment. These sacrifices
must never be forgotten.
Last year, the UN Chernobyl
Forum, a consortium of eight United Nations agencies
and representatives of the Governments of Belarus,
the Russian Federation and Ukraine, reached a
scientific consensus on the impact of Chernobyl
on health and the environment. This consensus,
while recognizing that there is still a long way
to go to achieve the full recovery of the territories
affected by Chernobyl, also contained a vital
message of reassurance to the affected populations.
The Secretary General urges the widest possible
dissemination of the Forum’s findings.
Many hard lessons have been
learned from Chernobyl, including the importance
of providing the public with transparent, timely
and credible information in the event of a catastrophe.
The Secretary-General believes that the best way
for the international community to pay homage
to those who suffered from Chernobyl is to provide
generous support to programmes designed to help
traumatized communities regain self-sufficiency,
and affected families resume normal, healthy lives.
SAFE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY
SOUND MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES
PROGRAMME AREA
Promoting the safe and environmentally sound management
of radioactive wastes
Basis for action
22.1. Radioactive wastes are
generated in the nuclear fuel cycle as well as
in nuclear applications (the use of radionuclides
in medicine, research and industry). The radiological
and safety risk from radioactive wastes varies
from very low in short-lived, low-level wastes
up to very large for high-level wastes. Annually
about 200,000 m3 of low-level and intermediate-level
waste and 10,000 m3 of high-level waste (as well
as spent nuclear fuel destined for final disposal)
is generated world wide from nuclear power production.
These volumes are increasing as more nuclear power
units are taken into operation, nuclear facilities
are decommissioned and the use of radionuclides
increases.
The high-level waste contains
about 99 per cent of the radionuclides and thus
represents the largest radiological risk. The
waste volumes from nuclear applications are generally
much smaller, typically some tens of cubic metres
or less per year and country. However, the activity
concentration, especially in sealed radiation
sources, might be high, thus justifying very stringent
radiological protection measures. The growth of
waste volumes should continue to be kept under
close review.
22.2. The safe and environmentally
sound management of radioactive wastes, including
their minimization, transportation and disposal,
is important, given their characteristics. In
most countries with a substantial nuclear power
programme, technical and administrative measures
have been taken to implement a waste management
system. In many other countries still only in
preparation for a national nuclear programme or
having only nuclear applications, such systems
are still needed.
Objective
22.3. The objective of this
programme area is to ensure that radioactive wastes
are safely managed, transported, stored and disposed
of, with a view to protecting human health and
the environment, within a wider framework of an
interactive and integrated approach to radioactive
waste management and safety.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
22.4. States, in cooperation
with relevant international organizations, where
appropriate, should:
(a) Promote policies and practical measures to
minimize and limit, where appropriate, the generation
of radioactive wastes and provide for their safe
processing, conditioning, transportation and disposal;
(b) Support efforts within IAEA to develop and
promulgate radioactive waste safety standards
or guidelines and codes of practice as an internationally
accepted basis for the safe and environmentally
sound management and disposal of radioactive wastes;
(c) Promote safe storage, transportation and disposal
of radioactive wastes, as well as spent radiation
sources and spent fuel from nuclear reactors destined
for final disposal, in all countries, in particular
in developing countries, by facilitating the transfer
of relevant technologies to those countries and/or
the return to the supplier of radiation sources
after their use, in accordance with relevant international
regulations or guidelines;
(d) Promote proper planning, including environmental
impact assessment where appropriate, of safe and
environmentally sound management of radioactive
waste, including emergency procedures, storage,
transportation and disposal, prior to and after
activities that generate such waste.
(b) International and regional cooperation and
coordination
22.5. States, in cooperation
with relevant international organizations, where
appropriate, should:
(a) Strengthen their efforts to implement the
Code of Practice on the Transboundary Movements
of Radioactive Waste and, under the auspices of
IAEA, in cooperation with relevant international
organizations dealing with different modes of
transport, keep the question of such movements
under active review, including the desirability
of concluding a legally binding instrument;
(b) Encourage the London Dumping Convention to
expedite work to complete studies on replacing
the current voluntary moratorium on disposal of
low-level radioactive wastes at sea by a ban,
taking into account the precautionary approach,
with a view to taking a well informed and timely
decision on the issue;
(c) Not promote or allow the storage or disposal
of high-level, intermediate-level and low-level
radioactive wastes near the marine environment
unless they determine that scientific evidence,
consistent with the applicable internationally
agreed principles and guidelines, shows that such
storage or disposal poses no unacceptable risk
to people and the marine environment or does not
interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea,
making, in the process of consideration, appropriate
use of the concept of the precautionary approach;
(d) Not export radioactive wastes to countries
that, individually or through international agreements,
prohibit the import of such wastes, such as the
contracting parties to the Bamako Convention on
the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control
of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes
within Africa, the fourth Lomé Convention
or other relevant conventions, where such prohibition
is provided for;
(e) Respect, in accordance with international
law, the decisions, as far as applicable to them,
taken by parties to other relevant regional environmental
conventions dealing with other aspects of safe
and environmentally sound management of radioactive
wastes.
Means of implementation
(a) Financial and cost evaluation
22.6. The costs at the national
level of managing and disposing of radioactive
wastes are considerable and will vary, depending
on the technology used for disposal.
22.7. The Conference secretariat
has estimated the average total annual cost (1993-2000)
to international organizations to implement the
activities of this programme to be about $8 million.
Actual costs and financial terms, including any
that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter
alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments
decide upon for implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
22.8. States, in cooperation
with international organizations, where appropriate,
should:
(a) Promote research and development of methods
for the safe andenvironmentally sound treatment,
processing and disposal, including deep geological
disposal, of high-level radioactive waste;
(b) Conduct research and assessment programmes
concerned with evaluating the health and environmental
impact of radioactive waste disposal.
(c) Capacity-building, including human resource
development
22.9. States, in cooperation
with relevant international organizations, should
provide, as appropriate, assistance to developing
countries to establish and/or strengthen radioactive
waste management infrastructures, including legislation,
organizations, trained manpower and facilities
for the handling, processing, storage and disposal
of wastes generated from nuclear applications.
