IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ELEVATED LEVELS OF NATURAL/TECHNOGENIC RADIOACTIVITY ON WILDLIFE OF THE NORTH

In recent years, considerable international efforts have been undertaken to develop scientifically correct and practically acceptable methodologies for assessing the possible radiation impact on the environment. Three innovative EC projects can be named i n this respect : FASSET (Framework for Assessment of Environmental Impact), EPIC (Environmental Protection from Ionizing Contaminants in the Arctic) in the period 1999-2003 and most recently ERICA (Environmental Risk from Ionising Contaminants: Assessment and Management), 2003-2007. Focus has been predominantely on temperate ecosystems. The proposed activity will build on these earlier projects and adapt methods for use in vulnerable northern environments. The ecosystems of the North are particularly vu lnerable to toxicants and stresses because of extreme climatic conditions placing the living organisms on the edge of their survival capacity. Recovery of injuries in northern populations and ecosystems can be a highly protracted process. This may reflect the slow growth and development of many northern organisms. Ionizing contaminants are present in the Northern regions and constitute an existing exposure hazard to wildlife. Non-nuclear industries dealing with TENORM; nuclear power and reprocessing plant s; civil and military nuclear powered vessels, etc. are situated in (or near) northern environments and form a present-day and potential source of environmental contamination. At the same time, the understanding of radiobiological effects in northern orga nisms is very limited, and there is still no system of assessing the impact of ionizing radiation on wildlife of the North. Such a system is needed in order to evaluate the radiological safety, as part of the licensing process, of the technological soluti ons, currently under development, to the radiological problems and hazards existing in the North.