Binding international prohibition on ocean dumping (London Convention/Protocol)
#00125
A treaty regime that first moratoriumed (1983) then permanently banned (from 1993) the dumping of radioactive waste at sea, shifting from case-by-case permits to blanket prohibition. It is the approach that actually stopped new drums entering the ocean.
Parent issue
#00121 Preventing new ocean disposal of hazardous waste
Sustainable Development Goals
Location
Description
Mechanism
Replace permissive, permit-based sea disposal with a binding international prohibition. Under the London Convention (1972) and its stricter London Protocol, radioactive-waste dumping was first suspended by a 1983 moratorium and then made a permanent ban (in force from 1993). The Protocol inverts the logic of the original Convention: instead of listing what may not be dumped, it prohibits dumping of everything except a short "reverse list" of permitted materials — radioactive waste is not among them.
Where it fits
The prevention approach for the source facet, and in practice the single most consequential action in this whole issue: it is why the NE Atlantic inventory is a closed legacy of ~200,000 drums rather than a still-growing one.
Operating profile and limits
Its strength is a clear, near-universal norm that ended an accepted practice. Its limits are the standard ones of international law: it binds only parties, enforcement on the high seas is weak and largely self-reported, and it faces recurring pressure to carve out exceptions (sub-seabed disposal, new waste streams). The ban's value depends on parties continuing to uphold it and resisting reopening.
Sub-issues
0Case studies
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