Environmental Pollutants decommissioned with standards

2008-10-14

In December 2008, Paul Chénard, a certification specialist at the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB), will be travelling to the Arkhangelsk region in northwest Russia to perform a surveillance audit at the Zvyozdochka shipyard.

Part of an international project to disarm and destroy nuclear-powered submarines in Russia so these doesn’t harm the environment, CGSB is performing audits at the shipyard to ensure it meets the requirements of the ISO Environmental Management (14001) standard.

The audits are intended to determine whether the Russian shipyard continues to meet the requirements of its ISO 14001 registration.

"It’s an interesting opportunity," says Chénard. "Most of our clients are within the private sector–and this is definitely one of the most exotic locales where we’ve worked."

The audit is a small but vital part of Canada’s contribution to a program that sees G8 countries working together to prevent terrorist groups from getting access to materials that can be used to create large-scale weapons.

One priority of this Global Partnership Program is the dismantlement of decommissioned nuclear powered submarines that were left in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Canada entered into a contribution agreement with Russia to defuel and dismantle 12 of these submarines over a 43-month period which ended on March 31, 2008.

Before agreeing to contribute to this part of the project, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) conducted an environmental assessment of the dismantlement project, and developed an environmental management plan with the Zvyozdochka shipyard.

The plan aimed to ensure that the Canadian-funded work would be performed in a way that didn’t negatively affect the water, land and life around the shipyard, and would have only a positive impact on the environment.

In order to confirm that this aim was achieved, DFAIT asked CGSB to audit the plan against the ISO 14001 Environmental Management standard. This audit will take place over a series of three stages. The stage 1 audit was performed in July of 2007, and found the shipyard to be well-managed.

Chénard says the second audit will probably be similar to the first, even though the Canadian-contracted work has been completed.

"I’ll likely have the chance to witness some of the activities going on at the time," explains Chénard. "The requirements of this audit are no different from the ones from the first one: I’ll be looking at their emergency plans, their training program, their environmental procedures, whether they’ve had an internal audit and management review—whatever is covered by the scope of the Environmental Management Systems standard."

There is a lot at stake in ensuring the shipyard is performing in an environmentally responsible way. DFAIT explains in a document outlining the steps involved in scrapping the submarines that each submarine produces a total of about 1,000 cubic metres of waste, some of which can be recycled or reused, and much of which is harmful.

According to DFAIT, crews pump the spent nuclear fuel from the submarines, and prepare it for shipping to a processing facility in the Ural Mountains. The dismantlement of the submarine produces a number of toxic substances, such as insulation (including asbestos); solid and liquid radioactive waste; and toxic waste such as lead and PCBs.

CGSB’s involvement with the shipyard is scheduled to continue until the end of 2009, with one more audit in December of that year. However, DFAIT is reviewing the possibility of embarking on another submarine dismantling project under the Global Partnership Plan, and should the department finance another round of dismantlement, there could again be a role for CGSB.

Chénard says the audits are a great way for CGSB to help out in such an important global project.

"It’s a very interesting program," he says of the Global Partnership Program. "It’s helping to keep sensitive materials from getting into the wrong hands, and we’re helping to make sure it’s done in a responsible way."

"It also manages to show how universal the ISO 14000 series is, and that the standard (ISO 14001) is adaptable to any economic activity and any organization."

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This article first appeared in Volume 35 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2008.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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