The NDP and the Arctic

The buzz over the Russian Arctic expedition continues. It seems the NDP is pushing the Canadian government to assert Canadian sovereignty much more aggressively in the north. It is criticizing the federal government for not building an icebreaker that could compete with Russia's. According to the Globe and Mail, the leader of the NDP said:

"To exercise our sovereignty, Canada needs vessels that can go anywhere, any time, in those areas we claim as our own," said Mr. Layton, calling for an immediate increase in government funding for scientific research that would gather evidence to support Canada's Arctic claim.

"Rather than buying military 'slushbreakers,' we should be building new polar icebreakers...to break ice for commercial vessels, help re-supply northern communities, maintain navigation devices, provide search and rescue, and support research scientists," Mr. Layton said.

The Russian expedition certainly served a useful purpose: it forced Canadian politicians and journalists to look north and to realize the importance that the Arctic may and will play in the future. Russia clearly understands the potential economic importance of the Arctic and the importance of asserting its sovereignty over as much of the Arctic as it can claim.

However, Russia should invest more in protecting the Arctic as some of the greatest threats to the Arctic Ocean come from Russia. The BBC has reported on the nuclear waste that is stored on the shores of the Arctic Ocean in northern Russia:

For almost half a century, the Northern Fleet has operated two-thirds of the navy's nuclear-powered vessels. Much of the spent fuel from these vessels has been dumped directly into the Barents and Kara seas, with the remainder placed in vastly inadequate storage. Wasteland A journey west along the Kola Peninsula's rugged Barents Sea coastline displays a natural beauty that belies the harsh realities lying hidden below the choppy surface.

About halfway between Severomorsk and the Norwegian border lies Andreeva Bay, an environmental nightmare where the waters are completely devoid of life.

Leaks from the region's largest nuclear waste storage facility mean no fish will ever swim in this fjord. Onshore, both the soil and the groundwater are badly contaminated.

On this vast site, 32 tons of highly radioactive waste with a high uranium content is stored in crumbling concrete bunkers and rusting tanks and containers - about a third of the nuclear waste mountain that can be found on the Kola Peninsula.

Most of it is spent fuel from the Northern Fleet's nuclear powered submarines, some from nuclear powered ice breakers.

And these days nobody, not even the officials in charge, suggests it is safe.

Given that the icebreaker that traveled to the North Pole was a nuclear-powered ice breaker, one day in the future the spent fuel from this very ship may one day pollute the waters of the Arctic Ocean that Russia is claiming.