With the rumors a confirmed reality, the global community turned its attention to verification issues. The reports coming out of the various research projects share a cautiously optimistic tone. In brief, the reports collectively agree that the dumped nuclear waste provides no immediate threat to either humans or the Arctic eco-system. The caution attached to these reports centers on the fact of incomplete information. Some of the earlier studies suggested that they had thus far collected insufficient data to provide anything but tentative conclusions.
Continued monitoring is necessary, however, to protect the Arctic ecosystems and native peoples.
There are, however, certain important gaps in the available information. For example, not all of the dumped high-level wastes referred to in Russian Federation documents have been located or unambiguously identified. Furthermore, some information related, for example, to the construction of the dumped submarine reactors and their fuel type remained classified. Finally, the blend of cautious optimism produced two policy proposals. The first employs a 'if it's not broke don't fix it' attitude.