The Environmental Challenges of Nuclear Disarmament

The end of the Cold War marked the beginning of a new era of facing the legacy of the arms race. The enormous challenge confronting us now is to strengthen the fragile nature of the new political balance. The beginning of this new historical period is characterized by mistrust, and the best way to ease these tensions is through international collaborations. Moreover, the intimate nature of close, non-invasive, collaborative work on environmental problems can help establish a secure foundation of mutual understanding and trust. Environmental projects are non-threatening to national security issues and may involve collaborations throughout the international weapons complex. Personal and individual scientific relationships quite often spearhead agreements at the government-to-government level. Environmental and nonproliferation issues are of great importance to the citizens of Russia, to the states of the Former Soviet Union, and to neighboring countries. The activities associated with decontamination and decommissioning of old facilities, environmental restoration, security enhancements, monitoring and surveillance, and risk reduction should provide a significant employment potential for scientists and engineers of the weapons complex of the Former Soviet Union.

Environmental Issues Associated With Nuclear Disarmament.- 1. Post-Arms Race Clean-Up Effort in the United States of America.- 2. Some Comparisons of Plutonium-Bearing Rad waste Management in the USA and Russia.- 3. International Training Centre for Analysing Nuclear and Radiation Safety.- 4. Radioactive Contamination and Waste Management in the Former Soviet Union; Opportunities for Stydying Anthropogenic Analogues of Radioactive-Waste Repositories.- 5. Legacy of Actinides in the Weapons Complex.- Preventing Proliferation of Nuclear Materials.- 6. Fuel Cycle of Large-Scale Nuclear Energy (BREST-1200) with Non-Proliferation of Plutonium and Equivalent Disposal of Radioactive Waste.- 7. Ceramic Waste Forms for Excess Weapons Plutonium.- 8. Long-Term Solutions to Managing Nuclear Waste in the Russian Federation.- 9. Thorium Phosphates as Matrices for Radionuclide Immobilisation.- 10. Modeling Spent Nuclear UO2-Fuel Dissolution Under Repository Conditions.- Nuclear Facility Decontamination and Decommissioning.- 11. IAEA Programme on the Identification and Remediation of Contaminated Nuclear Sites.- 12. Electro-physical Methods of Decontamination of Radioactive Equipment Surfaces.- 13. Electro-Chemical Methods for Decontaminating and Treating Radioactive Waste Resulting From Weapons-Facilities Clean-Up.- 14. Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Dismantling Techniques.- 15. Packaging of Plutonium Metal and Oxide in the ARIES Project.- Applying Nuclear Weapons Expertise To Civilian Use.- 16. Removal and Use of the Large-Scale Radioactive Equipment of Nuclear Submarines.- 17. Nuclear Technology for Cleaning Coal Emissions; Example of International Cooperation Leading to the Application of a Nuclear Technology to the Civilian Sector.- 18. Environmental Aspects of the Loss of Nuclear-Powered Ships.- 19. U.S.-Russian Weapons Sites Collaborations on Environmental Problems.- 20. Adsorbents for Stabilising Radionuclides from Solution.- Treatment of Nuclear Waste And Remediation of Contaminated Sites.- 21. Advanced Thermo-Chemical Technologies for the Treatment of Radioactive Organic and Biological Waste.- 22. Clean-Up of Nuclear Weapons Facilities.- 23. Risk-Assessment Model for Evaluating Environmental Remediation Options at the Stráž Underground Uranium Leaching Site.- 24. Soil-to-Plant Transfer of Radionuclides.- 25. Radiological Characterisation of Low- and Medium-Level Nuclear Wastes.- 26. PMS: A Simple Technology for Clean-Up of Heavy Metals and Radionuclides Throughout the World.- 27. Inorganic Ion Exchangers as Selective Adsorbents and Potential Primary Barriers for Radionuclides.- Nuclear Waste Management and Disposal.- 28. Use of Conservant ‘F’ for Radioactive and Chemical Solid Waste Disposal.- 29. Managing Institutional LILW in Central Russia: Operational Experience.- 30. Aspects of the Migration of Long-Lived Radionuclides from Underground Waste Repositories.- 31. Systems Approach to the Safety Evaluation of Radioactive Waste Management Options.- 32. Expertise in Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management in Belarus.- 33. Radionuclide Co-Precipitation Studies Under Repository Conditions.- Long-Term Surveillance of Monitoring of Nuclear Materials.- 34. Measurements and Modelling of Radionuclide Migration into Various Types of Soil.- 35. Sand Reactor.- 36. Advanced Portable Thermoluminescent Dosimeter System for Monitoring Environmental Radiation.- 37. Speciation in Water Released From Mining and Milling Facilities.- Attachment A Technologies and Needs for Potential Long-Term Collaborations.- Attachment B Nato AdvancedResearch Workshop Participant List.- Author and Subject Index.