Economic Impact of Sea-bed Mineral Resources Development in Light of the Convention on the Law of the Sea

In 1983, the Preparatory Commission for the International Sea-Bed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea appointed its officers, decided upon its structure and adopted a programme of work. In July of the previous year, the US Government announced that it would not sign the Convention on the Law of the Sea and thus would not participate in the deliberations of the Preparatory Commission. As part of the Texts adopted, Resolution II establishes a scheme for the Protection of Pioneer investment pending the entry into force of the Convention. This scheme is predicated on the philosphy embodied in the Convention in respect of the establishment of a resource policy for the development of sea-bed mineral resources and takes into account its basic component, the limitation of production. This article investigates the impact of future sea-bed mineral development on the affected economies of developing land-based producer states. It also reviews the mechanisms to be utilized to mitigate against possible adverse impacts and attempts to assess the extent to which these resources may be exploited in the medium term.     

HTO and OBT activity concentrations in soil at the historical atmospheric HT release site (Chalk River Laboratories)

Tritium is routinely released by the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) nuclear facilities. Three International HT release experiments have been conducted at the CRL site in the past. The site has not been disturbed since the last historical atmospheric testing in 1994 and presents an opportunity to assess the retention of tritium in soil. This study is devoted to the measurement of HTO and OBT activity concentration profiles in the subsurface 25 cm of soil.In terms of soil HTO, there is no evidence from the past HT release experiments that HTO was retained. The HTO activity concentration in the soil pore water appears similar to concentrations found in background areas in Ontario. In contrast, OBT activity concentrations in soil at the same site were significantly higher than HTO activity concentrations in soil. Elevated OBT appears to reside in the top layer of the soil (0-5 cm). In addition, OBT activity concentrations in the top soil layer did not fluctuate much with season, again, quite in contrast with soil HTO. This result suggests that OBT activity concentrations retained the signature of the historical tritium releases.