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A time for accounting
Volume 8/Number 3/March 1977
A Time for Accounting One of the most serious insults to the oceans paid by man in the next decades may result from the introduction of artificial radionuclides, primarily from reprocessing plants. Several countries have already entered the nuclear fuel cycle, i.e. the construction o f reactors for the production o f energy and the reprocessing of spent fuels --United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Japan and India. The largest reprocessing plant is at Windscale, England, and there are smaller counterparts in Marcoule and La Hague, France. Demonstration facilities exist in Japan, Germany and India while Brazil, Pakistan and France have announced their intentions to build large scale plants. The US is at the present time not operating any fuel reprocessing facilities and there is some doubt as to whether any plants will be in existance before the end of the present decade. There seems to be no way to avoid the deliberate discharges of radioactive wastes to the coastal marine environment. In what ways can the consequences of this activity continually be examined and assessed? The general problem was well recognized two decades ago. At that time stepping stones to its solution were put forth (R. Revelle and M. B. Schaeffer. In The Effects o f Atomic Radiation on Oceanography and Fisheries. NAS-NRC Publication 551, 1957, pp. 8-9). " F r o m the standpoint both of research and control of this new kind o f pollution, careful records should be maintained o f the kinds, quantities and physical and chemical states of all radio isotopes introduced into the seas, together with detailed data on locations, depths and modes of introduction. This can probably best be done by national agencies reporting to an international records centre." Yet in the last twenty years, very little has been done. There has developed a substantial knowledge base with regard to the behaviour of radionuclides in the marine system and to the formulation o f schemes for their management. Still, national concerns have not extended into the international domain. The United Kingdom has monitored both inputs of radioactive wastes from reactors and reprocessing plants to coastal waters and their levels in various components of the marine environment. The information is published annually in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Radiobiological Laboratory volumes Radioactivity in Surface and Coastal Waters o f the British Isles. The Laboratory seeks to ascertain permissible limits of given radionuclides in coastal waters, primarily with respect to a possible return to man and a consequential undesirable impact upon public health. Critical populations are identified who might receive unacceptable levels o f radioactivity through their patterns o f food consumption or through direct exposure. Surveillance programmes attempt to verify that levels o f release have no potentially
dangerous effects. The annual discharges, amounts of radionuclides in critical components o f the environment, and the percentage o f the recommended dose limit for individuals receiving maximum exposure are in the publications. Other countries in the nuclear fuel cycle have released pitifully little information about their inputs to the sea. In addition, there is an insufficiency o f information on discharges o f radioactivity to the coastal marine waters as a consequence of the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons. There are a number o f observations which place an urgency upon entering the global accounting mode. First of all, the radiation exposures to critical populations as a consequence of deliberate releases from one reprocessing plant to the sea (Windscale) are non-trivial. In terms o f percentages of acceptable limits they are: 7 07ofor external gamma doses on beaches; 3°70 through human consumption of fish containing radio-cesium; and 207o through human consumption of seaweeds with Ru-106. Admittedly, these values are based upon very conservative calculations. Releases from Windscale are regulated upon the bases o f the protection of these critical populations. Still, there is a measure here of the impact of one reprocessing plant upon a human community. Will a more intensive involvement with the nuclear fuel cycle by the European nations raise these exposure levels in the near future? Other possible critical pathways o f radionuclides back from the ocean environment to man are in need o f evaluation. For example, it is well known that plutonium is markedly concentrated by some marine algae. Such algae can be brought to the beach by wave action where they are exposed to the sun's rays. Dried algal particles can be introduced to the atmosphere where inhalation by man is possible. Recognition that the inhalation o f a given amount of plutonium is more serious than its ingestion highlights the significance o f such scenarios, especially as they might develop as a consequence of an accident in a reactor or reprocessing plant. Over the past twenty years other pollutants have been identified in marine food products whose consumption by man might deleteriously affect his health. The human body is stressed by the presence of such substances as lead, mercury, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc. in fish, shellfish and edible algae. To what extent will additional levels of radionuclides act synergistically (or perhaps antagonistically) with any or all o f the toxins? Should we also be keeping track of these pollutants coming back to society from the oceans at the same time as we are studying the return of artificial radionuclides? In addition to the direct impact upon human health there has been a mounting concern about the effects of man-mobilized contaminants upon the well-being of marine organisms. Many laboratories are seeking methods to study biological effects, whether they be cellular, physiological or behavioural. Although there are no unequivocal methods to establish the effects o f pollutants on marine ecosystems, it is probable that some will be devised in the near future. Present and predicted burdens of radionuclides in the ocean are necessary to effectively focus such studies. The international agencies that might have initiated 49
Marine Pollution Bulletin
the bookkeeping exist but apparently have not given any significant priority to the effort. I submit that the concerned community of marine scientists should immediately seek out the tactics to obtain the records of all nuclear waste discharges to the oceans and to
periodically publish and assess the available data. In addition, they should identify other information needed for such evaluations. The time for accounting is n o w - - n o t after the first catastrophe. E. D. GOLDBERG
European Wetland Campaign
recent decision not to extend the presently-drained parts of the Dollard, the wintering grounds of 20 000 avocets in the Ems estuary between Germany and the Netherlands, certainly appears to have been influenced by a fairly massive letter-writing campaign, as was the recent decision at least to postpone development of the desperately important Ebro marshes in Spain. However, nowhere in Europe has general public awareness reached the level it has in North America, and perhaps the Wetlands Campaigns may heighten this to some extent. Not even in Britain, having a bird protection society with 200000 members, does the proposal to drain, dump in, or build over a small local marsh arouse such spontaneous parochial ire as in the USA. European housewives have yet to sit down in front of the bulldozers in such a cause. O f course, the real question is: why should they? Why should any cost-effective development scheme not go ahead? Can one doubt that oil refineries are more important than wintering grounds for Siberian geese, especially since Sir Peter Scott has shown how great flocks of wildfowl can be nursed through the winter on his tiny swan-farm on the Severn? To answer this kind of question, it is not sufficient to place a monetary value on the existence of wildlife, as did IMCO in its study on the Environmental and Financial Consequences of Oil Pollution from Ships--naturally, the sums of money which it can be said the public are willing to pay to enjoy wildlife are trivial compared with the economics of oil transportation by sea. On the other hand, nor is it useful to write, as did a recent press release from the Council of Europe c a m p a i g n , " t h e biologist rejoices in these shallow w a t e r s . . . (where) life teems in extravagant abundance": for who, in fact, cares about the rejoicings of biologists? Actually, what is long overdue in Europe and seems to be understated in the Wetland Campaign releases we have seen, is an overt policy to minimize the conversion of additional farmlands and wild places to industrial and recreational sites, and to maximize the re-use of land already converted to industry which is now run-down and derelict; installation on 'green-field sites', even in wetlands, may be cheap and administratively simple for developers but is very expensive in terms of future options. Public discussion of this question might lead to a much better understanding than we have at present of the real costs of reclamation of wetlands, and might do something to slow down the deadly spread of 'sameness' across our sub-continent. It is to be hoped that the European Wetlands Campaign can address itself to such fundamental problems in the closing months of its existence.
Long after the primeval forests and plains o f Europe had disappeared under the plough, impressive remnants of our original marshlands survived, and indeed still survive to the present day; however, modern heavy earth-moving machinery has meant that the previously formidable task of draining wet areas and converting them to farmland or Maritime Industrial Development Areas is now relatively trivial, and assured of success. Perhaps because of public health problems, especially paludism, the reclamation o f marshlands came to be regarded in the past as a noble purpose with strong emotional and political connotations: in fact, the word 'reclamation' coined to describe these activities, does not stand up to close logical inspection. Political pressures for drainage continue today without critical examination of motives: in Spain, handsome subsidies support private commercial developments which involve the modification of marshland, and in the United States the US Army Corps of Engineers is still mandated to drain and reclaim wherever it can show that the cost-benefit ratio is positive. Beginning in the sixties, Project MAR (marsh, marsch, marais, marecage, and marisma) of the International Wildfowl Research Bureau began to agitate on a European scale for the protection of wetland habitat; to an extent prompted by this, work began in the early seventies on an international convention whose text was finalised in a successful meeting at Ramsar, beside a great Iranian marsh, in December 1975. The Ramsar Convention was soon ratified by the UK and another five of the sixteen signatory countries, who sadly did not include Holland, France or Spain. The states who are Contracting Parties undertake to modify their plans for land-use in relation to wetlands, both generally and for the protection o f a special list of'wetlands of international importance'; in the UK, these include such places as the Ouse Washes, Bridgwater Bay and Lough Neagh among a total list of nineteen. The entering into force of the Ramsar Convention led the Council of Europe to establish a 1976-1977 Wetlands Campaign whose main aim is the exposure in press and television of the problems facing European wetlands, their ecological importance, and the decisions which have to be made about their future. If one is committed to the idea that the conservation o f natural habitat should be maximized, even if only to preserve future options (reclamation being virtually irreversible) then any increase in public awareness of what is going on is to be welcomed. Certainly public opinion in Europe is beginning to carry weight in wetland conservation; the 50
A. R. LONGHURST
A Time for Accounting One of the most serious insults to the oceans paid by man in the next decades may result from the introduction of artificial radionuclides, primarily from reprocessing plants. Several countries have already entered the nuclear fuel cycle, i.e. the construction o f reactors for the production o f energy and the reprocessing of spent fuels --United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Japan and India. The largest reprocessing plant is at Windscale, England, and there are smaller counterparts in Marcoule and La Hague, France. Demonstration facilities exist in Japan, Germany and India while Brazil, Pakistan and France have announced their intentions to build large scale plants. The US is at the present time not operating any fuel reprocessing facilities and there is some doubt as to whether any plants will be in existance before the end of the present decade. There seems to be no way to avoid the deliberate discharges of radioactive wastes to the coastal marine environment. In what ways can the consequences of this activity continually be examined and assessed? The general problem was well recognized two decades ago. At that time stepping stones to its solution were put forth (R. Revelle and M. B. Schaeffer. In The Effects o f Atomic Radiation on Oceanography and Fisheries. NAS-NRC Publication 551, 1957, pp. 8-9). " F r o m the standpoint both of research and control of this new kind o f pollution, careful records should be maintained o f the kinds, quantities and physical and chemical states of all radio isotopes introduced into the seas, together with detailed data on locations, depths and modes of introduction. This can probably best be done by national agencies reporting to an international records centre." Yet in the last twenty years, very little has been done. There has developed a substantial knowledge base with regard to the behaviour of radionuclides in the marine system and to the formulation o f schemes for their management. Still, national concerns have not extended into the international domain. The United Kingdom has monitored both inputs of radioactive wastes from reactors and reprocessing plants to coastal waters and their levels in various components of the marine environment. The information is published annually in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Radiobiological Laboratory volumes Radioactivity in Surface and Coastal Waters o f the British Isles. The Laboratory seeks to ascertain permissible limits of given radionuclides in coastal waters, primarily with respect to a possible return to man and a consequential undesirable impact upon public health. Critical populations are identified who might receive unacceptable levels o f radioactivity through their patterns o f food consumption or through direct exposure. Surveillance programmes attempt to verify that levels o f release have no potentially
dangerous effects. The annual discharges, amounts of radionuclides in critical components o f the environment, and the percentage o f the recommended dose limit for individuals receiving maximum exposure are in the publications. Other countries in the nuclear fuel cycle have released pitifully little information about their inputs to the sea. In addition, there is an insufficiency o f information on discharges o f radioactivity to the coastal marine waters as a consequence of the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons. There are a number o f observations which place an urgency upon entering the global accounting mode. First of all, the radiation exposures to critical populations as a consequence of deliberate releases from one reprocessing plant to the sea (Windscale) are non-trivial. In terms o f percentages of acceptable limits they are: 7 07ofor external gamma doses on beaches; 3°70 through human consumption of fish containing radio-cesium; and 207o through human consumption of seaweeds with Ru-106. Admittedly, these values are based upon very conservative calculations. Releases from Windscale are regulated upon the bases o f the protection of these critical populations. Still, there is a measure here of the impact of one reprocessing plant upon a human community. Will a more intensive involvement with the nuclear fuel cycle by the European nations raise these exposure levels in the near future? Other possible critical pathways o f radionuclides back from the ocean environment to man are in need o f evaluation. For example, it is well known that plutonium is markedly concentrated by some marine algae. Such algae can be brought to the beach by wave action where they are exposed to the sun's rays. Dried algal particles can be introduced to the atmosphere where inhalation by man is possible. Recognition that the inhalation o f a given amount of plutonium is more serious than its ingestion highlights the significance o f such scenarios, especially as they might develop as a consequence of an accident in a reactor or reprocessing plant. Over the past twenty years other pollutants have been identified in marine food products whose consumption by man might deleteriously affect his health. The human body is stressed by the presence of such substances as lead, mercury, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc. in fish, shellfish and edible algae. To what extent will additional levels of radionuclides act synergistically (or perhaps antagonistically) with any or all o f the toxins? Should we also be keeping track of these pollutants coming back to society from the oceans at the same time as we are studying the return of artificial radionuclides? In addition to the direct impact upon human health there has been a mounting concern about the effects of man-mobilized contaminants upon the well-being of marine organisms. Many laboratories are seeking methods to study biological effects, whether they be cellular, physiological or behavioural. Although there are no unequivocal methods to establish the effects o f pollutants on marine ecosystems, it is probable that some will be devised in the near future. Present and predicted burdens of radionuclides in the ocean are necessary to effectively focus such studies. The international agencies that might have initiated 49
Marine Pollution Bulletin
the bookkeeping exist but apparently have not given any significant priority to the effort. I submit that the concerned community of marine scientists should immediately seek out the tactics to obtain the records of all nuclear waste discharges to the oceans and to
periodically publish and assess the available data. In addition, they should identify other information needed for such evaluations. The time for accounting is n o w - - n o t after the first catastrophe. E. D. GOLDBERG
European Wetland Campaign
recent decision not to extend the presently-drained parts of the Dollard, the wintering grounds of 20 000 avocets in the Ems estuary between Germany and the Netherlands, certainly appears to have been influenced by a fairly massive letter-writing campaign, as was the recent decision at least to postpone development of the desperately important Ebro marshes in Spain. However, nowhere in Europe has general public awareness reached the level it has in North America, and perhaps the Wetlands Campaigns may heighten this to some extent. Not even in Britain, having a bird protection society with 200000 members, does the proposal to drain, dump in, or build over a small local marsh arouse such spontaneous parochial ire as in the USA. European housewives have yet to sit down in front of the bulldozers in such a cause. O f course, the real question is: why should they? Why should any cost-effective development scheme not go ahead? Can one doubt that oil refineries are more important than wintering grounds for Siberian geese, especially since Sir Peter Scott has shown how great flocks of wildfowl can be nursed through the winter on his tiny swan-farm on the Severn? To answer this kind of question, it is not sufficient to place a monetary value on the existence of wildlife, as did IMCO in its study on the Environmental and Financial Consequences of Oil Pollution from Ships--naturally, the sums of money which it can be said the public are willing to pay to enjoy wildlife are trivial compared with the economics of oil transportation by sea. On the other hand, nor is it useful to write, as did a recent press release from the Council of Europe c a m p a i g n , " t h e biologist rejoices in these shallow w a t e r s . . . (where) life teems in extravagant abundance": for who, in fact, cares about the rejoicings of biologists? Actually, what is long overdue in Europe and seems to be understated in the Wetland Campaign releases we have seen, is an overt policy to minimize the conversion of additional farmlands and wild places to industrial and recreational sites, and to maximize the re-use of land already converted to industry which is now run-down and derelict; installation on 'green-field sites', even in wetlands, may be cheap and administratively simple for developers but is very expensive in terms of future options. Public discussion of this question might lead to a much better understanding than we have at present of the real costs of reclamation of wetlands, and might do something to slow down the deadly spread of 'sameness' across our sub-continent. It is to be hoped that the European Wetlands Campaign can address itself to such fundamental problems in the closing months of its existence.
Long after the primeval forests and plains o f Europe had disappeared under the plough, impressive remnants of our original marshlands survived, and indeed still survive to the present day; however, modern heavy earth-moving machinery has meant that the previously formidable task of draining wet areas and converting them to farmland or Maritime Industrial Development Areas is now relatively trivial, and assured of success. Perhaps because of public health problems, especially paludism, the reclamation o f marshlands came to be regarded in the past as a noble purpose with strong emotional and political connotations: in fact, the word 'reclamation' coined to describe these activities, does not stand up to close logical inspection. Political pressures for drainage continue today without critical examination of motives: in Spain, handsome subsidies support private commercial developments which involve the modification of marshland, and in the United States the US Army Corps of Engineers is still mandated to drain and reclaim wherever it can show that the cost-benefit ratio is positive. Beginning in the sixties, Project MAR (marsh, marsch, marais, marecage, and marisma) of the International Wildfowl Research Bureau began to agitate on a European scale for the protection of wetland habitat; to an extent prompted by this, work began in the early seventies on an international convention whose text was finalised in a successful meeting at Ramsar, beside a great Iranian marsh, in December 1975. The Ramsar Convention was soon ratified by the UK and another five of the sixteen signatory countries, who sadly did not include Holland, France or Spain. The states who are Contracting Parties undertake to modify their plans for land-use in relation to wetlands, both generally and for the protection o f a special list of'wetlands of international importance'; in the UK, these include such places as the Ouse Washes, Bridgwater Bay and Lough Neagh among a total list of nineteen. The entering into force of the Ramsar Convention led the Council of Europe to establish a 1976-1977 Wetlands Campaign whose main aim is the exposure in press and television of the problems facing European wetlands, their ecological importance, and the decisions which have to be made about their future. If one is committed to the idea that the conservation o f natural habitat should be maximized, even if only to preserve future options (reclamation being virtually irreversible) then any increase in public awareness of what is going on is to be welcomed. Certainly public opinion in Europe is beginning to carry weight in wetland conservation; the 50
A. R. LONGHURST