July 23, 2010

The RPII and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government participated in the annual meeting of the OSPAR’s Radioactive Substances Committee in Stockholm, in July.

OSPAR is the mechanism by which fifteen Governments of the western coasts and catchments of Europe, the Contracting Parties (CPs) together with the European Community, cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. The work of the OSPAR Commission is underpinned by five thematic strategies to address the main threats that it has identified within its competence: the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Strategy, the Eutrophication Strategy, the Hazardous Substances Strategy, the Offshore Industry Strategy and the Radioactive Substances Strategy (RSS).

The objective of the RSS which is implemented by OSPARs’ Radioactive Substances Committee (RSC) is to prevent pollution of the maritime area from ionising radiation through progressive and substantial reductions of discharges, emissions and losses of radioactive substances, with the ultimate aim of concentrations in the environment near background values for naturally occurring radioactive substances and close to zero for artificial radioactive substances.

Progress in implementing the RSS is evaluated periodically using a vast array of Decisions, Recommendations, Agreements, Implementation Reports and Formats. The RSC meets once a year to review the combined effects of radioactive discharges produced by each CP arising from the nuclear (nuclear power production, reprocessing, fuel production and decommissioning activities) and non-nuclear sectors (medical and oil and gas sub-sectors). Together with information on concentrations of radioactive substances in the environment as measured and reported by CPs through their national monitoring programmes, the RSC is able to assess the status of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic, review the implementation of the RSS and measure the resulting benefits to the marine environment through dose assessments. Some highlights of the 2010 RSC meeting can be found in the OSPAR Press Statement ‘OSPAR welcomes reductions in radioactive discharges to the North-East Atlantic’.

Reports have been published on reduction in discharges, concentrations and impacts in the environment. An overall assessment of radionuclides in the OSPAR maritime area has also been published in 2009. Additionally, OSPAR has prepared a major holistic assessment of the state of the North East Atlantic, the Quality Status Report 2010 which will inform the 2010 OSPAR Ministerial Meeting in September about the environmental condition of the North East Atlantic and will propose future actions for its protection and conservation.

 

 

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