Anthropogenic risks:

The anthropogenic risks are resulted from human activities and industries.
The radioactivity is generally occurred due to the presence of nuclear
plants in the arctic regions. Also, there are two main risks that occurred in
the arctic regions which resulted from the oil and gas industry
(exploration, drilling and refinery) which are the oil spill and the
persistent organic pollutants. They are the responsible of pollution in the
arctic regions and they cause a significant damage to the human health
and wildlife.

Radioactivity:

Over the last decade, there has been a concentrate of radioactivity in the
Arctic area. The cause for that are the high number of nuclear sources in
the Arctic region and the sensibility of Arctic systems to radioactive
pollution.7 Many publications have been published concerning radioactivity
problems in the Arctic, which has caused interest in many countries. 7

The population in arctic areas is risky to a higher dose (5 times higher) of

radioactive pollution from the people in normal temperate areas,
supposing the same deposition, because the food of people living in the
Arctic areas mainly relies on traditional food from lakes, mountains and
forest.7

There are different major origins of radioactive contamination in the Arctic

environment as shown in the Fig.3: Liquid drainages from nuclear power
plants in Western Europe, Chernobyl accident and Global fallout from
atmospheric nuclear tests.2
 Fig.3 Map of actual sources of nuclear contamination to the European Arctic region
(Justin et al., 2005)

Effects:

- High concentrations of radioactive materials in arctic animals may be

occur because these materials are toxic for organisms.1

-Effects on the human health resulting from the polluted water which
causes morbidity (effects on immune system, blood system and nervous
system) and the possibility of mortality.

-Ecological effect (changes in biodiversity, ecological successions)

Protection:

-Be aware of all sources of radiation exposure because people who live in
arctic areas are exposed to radiation every day from different sources.
So, it is necessary to understand the presence and distribution of
radioactivity sources in the arctic environment.3

-Develop adapted food policy especially in arctic areas located near the
sources of radioactivity.3
-Perform personal detectors to monitor the presence of nuclear sources.

-Make sure of proper ventilation for closed off areas.

Toxic chemicals:

Persistent organic pollutants (POP) are chemical materials that resulted

from the oil and gas industry activities such as exploration, drilling and
refining which cause a large impact on Arctic marine ecosystems. 8

POP were detected for the first time in the Arctic during the 1950s when
pilots observed a fog in the North American Arctic that was traced to
lower latitudes.8

 They are transported by water, wind and food allowing them to pass on
continents and borders as shown in the figure below (Fig.4). Because they
are withstanding environmental degradation, they have existed for a long
time in the areas.8

The transportation of toxic chemicals is due principally to climate change

when trapped in the Arctic’s snow, ice and soils. As the temperature
becomes higher, these chemicals accumulate in sinks such as ice and
water then spread into the atmosphere. So, the Arctic is a sink for
principal global marine and atmospheric pathways that transport polluting
substances over long distances.6
 Fig.4 Sources and deposition of POP (Birnbaum, 2002)

Aromatic hydrocarbons including benzene toluene, ethyl benzene,

toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene (BTEX) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs), released into the
environment mainly by the activities of oil industry. 6

Effects:

POPs are very toxic compared to other chemicals and it can take place
through environmental exposure, diet or accidents.  They adversely affect
human’s health, animals, plants and natural ecosystems both in close and
long distances away from the original source of discharge. 6

 The Arctic’s people are at high risk of Persistent organic pollutants

exposure due to their diets that include large amounts of fish and wild
foods that are gained locally. The impacts of POPs to humans can cause
several adverse health effects including: Death, Cancers, Hypersensitivity
and allergies, Damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems. 6

The impacts of these hazardous chemicals on wildlife include: the

interference with sex hormones, disturbing the reproduction cycle; an
increased risk of tumors through damaged DNA.

Reducing and replacing:

- Many POP have been legally prohibited from western countries but in
many cases, production of these pollutants has stopped. 6

- Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutant (2001): global

treaty to protect human health and the environment from POP. In
implementing this agreement, administrations will take actions to
eliminate or minimize the release of POPs into the arctic environment. 8

-Strategies and plans are needed to reduce the use of POPs by identifying
safer substitutes to POP contaminants.6

Oil spills:

Oil spills are of major risks which are faced by challenging Arctic
conditions such as extreme weather conditions, dynamic ice cover, slowed
weathering and bacterial degradation as shown in the fig.5. Oil spills in
the arctic environment are more complicated than oil spills in other
regions in which shallow water is the most area affected by this type of
pollution because it is significant to organisms of the arctic food chain.
They can occur in the different stages of the oil and gas industry such as
drilling, usage and transportation.4
The presence of the arctic environment impacts oil weathering processes
and the behavior of oil in arctic waters. Oil spilled is affected by
evaporation, dissolution, emulsification, and natural dispersion to some
degree.4
 Fig.5 Oil spills in the arctic (Umar Ali, 2019)

 
Effects of oil spill:

Oil spill in arctic regions is one of the primary problems resulting from the
oil industry. It is the source of water pollution which causes large
environmental damage, major losses to aquatic biodiversity and economic
destruction.5
Human health which resulted from consuming polluted sea food due to
the spill and touching oil slicks can cause inhalation of vapor, problems in
respiratory system and neurological, nausea and eye irritations. 5
Toxic materials resulting from the spill of the oil have a large effect in
marine ecosystems including animal and plant life in which these
materials can be ingested by the sea animals (fish, whales), birds and
other animals.5

Prevention:

For environmental protection, prevention or reducing of oil spills should

be the highest priority in the arctic areas. Many methods can be used to
perform this task such as:5
-Utilizing vessels with double hulls which minimize the hazard of oil spill in
case of a grounding or collision.
-Using of Blowout preventer on the surface while drilling to prevent the
escape of oil from the well.
-The team work should be well experienced and trained to this type of
problem to prevent its occurrence.5
-Providing the ships and industry with control equipment and computer
based video-display to track the hazards which can occur such as oil spill.
-Mechanical and chemical treatments can be used for marine protection
from oil spill such as mechanical gathering by using equipment to collect
the oil from the water areas or chemical materials can be mixed with the
spilt oil to form gel in which this mixture can be easily collected from
these areas.5
Introducing new legislations and laws to prevent the risks related to the
oil and gas industry especially the oil spills. 5

References:

[1] A. Hosseini and J. E. Brown, “Environmental impact assessment for ionizing radiation
within the Arctic,” Radioprotection, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 589–594, 2009.

[2] A. G. Grigoriev, Е. N. Nesterova, I. А. Neevin, and M. A. Kholmyanskii, “The scheme

of the anthropogenic radioactive pollution of Russian Arctic,” Arctic and Antarctic
Research, no. 4, pp. 16–22, 2017.

[3] A. A. Sarkisov, “Radioactive contamination mitigation in the Arctic region,” Вulletin of

the Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 107–124, 2019.

[4] M. Afenyo, C. Jiang, and A. K. Ng, “Climate change and Arctic shipping: A method for
assessing the impacts of oil spills in the Arctic,” Transportation Research Part D:
Transport and Environment, vol. 77, pp. 476–490, 2019.

[5] J. V. Mullin, “Advances from Arctic Oil Spill Response Research,” International Oil
Spill Conference Proceedings, vol. 2017, no. 1, pp. 1487–1506, 2017.

[6] D. C. Muir and C. A. D. Wit, “Trends of legacy and new persistent organic pollutants
in the circumpolar arctic: Overview, conclusions, and recommendations,” Science of The
Total Environment, vol. 408, no. 15, pp. 3044–3051, 2010.
[7] Annika Nilsson & henry huntingtOn, Arctic Monitoring And Assessment Programme,
Arctic Pollution 8, 2009.

[8] Kirby, Rachel T. “Persistent Organic Pollutant Accumulation in the Arctic.” Sustainable
Development Law and Policy, 31, 65, Spring 2008,.