Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas ... - IMO

Introduction 5
that I document contradicts not only traditional power-based theories that
predict that regime change will only occur in response to changes in the
power and interests of dominant states but also more recent knowledgebased
theories arguing for the power of epistemic communities. Though it
is true that states are the only formally recognized members of regimes,
ENGOs are often de facto members with considerable influence. Finally,
the lack of scientific evidence of damage to humans and the environment
from ocean dumping of radwaste raises an important question: Does this
recent regime development constitute “good” 11 and effective or unwise and
negative global environmental policy?
The London Convention and Radwaste Disposal
In this book I investigate the formation and change of the global regime
regulating ocean dumping of wastes, a regime established by the so-called
London Convention of 1972. 12 I examine in detail the events that resulted
in the establishment of this environmental regime. I also examine the developments
in the control of radwaste disposal that have taken place under
the regime.
In 1946 a number of countries began unilaterally disposing of low-level
radioactive waste at sea. Other countries, though concerned about the environmental
effects of such dumping, failed to halt it. Radwaste disposal continued
after the establishment of the global ocean dumping regime in 1972.
Hence, the regime initially permitted and regulated controlled radwaste disposal,
and Britain and the United States (and later France and Japan)
strongly supported this disposal practice. A moratorium temporarily halting
radwaste disposal was imposed in 1983, however, and no official dumping
has taken place since then. Agreement on a global ban on radwaste
disposal was reached in 1993. According to an advisor to Greenpeace
International, the decision to prohibit radwaste disposal was “a major step
forward by the world community in making a commitment to protect the
world’s oceans.” 13 The 1993 ban is evidence of a recent dramatic change of
the regime—a change from permissive allowance of radwaste disposal to an
emphasis on precaution and prevention.
Environmental regimes are manifestations of interstate and transnational
cooperation. Keohane (1984, p. 51) has defined cooperation as follows:
“Cooperation occurs when actors adjust their behavior to the actual or