Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group of the Arctic Council: Recent Marine Environmental Initiatives in the Arctic Council

The Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group of the Arctic Council continues to function as the focus of Arctic Council work on preparedness and response to oil, hazsub, and radiological releases. In addition the Working Group has recently been assigned responsibility for disaster response. Among the current work projects just completed or underway are the following: Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Manual – The manual has been completed under Canadian and US leadership and is being translated into Russian. This completes the last gap identified in the 1998 Environmental Risk Assessment. Oil Response Waste Disposal Guide – The guide is being developed under the leadership of Canada to address transboundary issues in waste disposal and mutual aid as well as available technologies for oily waste disposal. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) of the Arctic Council has completed the final draft of the Oil and Gas Assessment. National assessments have been drafted with variable completeness. Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment – The Assessment will address the growth of Arctic Marine Shipping and the attendant implications for environmental, development and response issues among others. The Assessment is Chaired by the Protection of the Marine Environment (PAME) Chair. Arctic Council circumpolar mapping project continues to evolve and address a Circumpolar Map of resources at risk under the leadership of Norway. Further work is being done in updating data sets, development of infrastructure and policy on data, and development of applications. Source Control Management Projects related to Radiological Releases – Source control projects in two phases have been completed with Phase I – Source Control Management and Prevention Strategies for Chlorine Handling – being involved with the Apatity Waterworks and Phase II – Risk Assessment at the NIIAR Fuel Research Department – being involved with the Dimitrovograd, Ulyanovsk Region. Radiological Related Training continues with ISO 14001 Training Programs Handling, with Risk Assessment Methodology and with a Table Top Emergency Exercise related to the transportation of radioactive material (26 July 2005) conducted by Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC) Partners in Murmansk, Russian Federation. Community Information Initiatives Related to Radiological Releases – Outreach and information initiative continue with the Community Radiation Information Project in the Kola Area, led by the US and Russian Federation. Three brochures have been published on Industrial North Nuclear Technologies and Environment, Emergency Public Information, and the ABC of Radiation Protection. Arctic Rescue — Proposed by the Russian Federation, the concept of “Arctic Rescue” is designed to identify potential sites for a network of stations throughout the Arctic to provide emergency notification and potential response to incidents in the region. A workshop was held in Moscow to define international legal agreement already in place in relation to this concept and to determine a way forward with the concept if it is supportable. Expansion of EPPR Mandate – The EPPR Working Group mandate was expanded to include natural disasters such as forest fires. A survey of past natural disasters is being lead by Finland. In this regard, the Russian Federation also presented work on flood response and database tracking.