During the 1990s, protection of the Arctic marine environment has attracted intense political attention, engaging diplomats, parliamentarians, researchers and non-governmental organisations across the Arctic rim – and well beyond. The disclosure of Soviet dumping of radioactive waste in the Barents and Kara Seas is among the main reasons for this. It is now clear that such dumping has been conducted for decades – by the Northern Fleet as well as by the civilian Murmansk Shipping Company, the operator of nuclear-run icebreakers in the Northern Sea Route. Measured at the time of disposal, the total radioactivity dumped into Arctic seas by the Soviet Union is twice as high as that of all previously known dumping worldwide. The most intensely radioactive type of waste stems from nuclear vessel reactors which still contain high-level spent fuel.

Parts of this dumping occurred in violation of Soviet commitments to the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Convention); this forms the point of departure for this chapter. In particular, we will focus on how international regimes may affect domestic implementation in member states. The core of the argument is that Soviet and later Russian management of nuclear waste in the north has been significantly influenced by regulations and programmes generated under international dumping instruments.