Between 1949 and 1982 about 33,000 m3 of RAW was disposed of in the North Atlantic and UK coastal waters (NDA and DECC, 2011). The London Convention 1972 prohibited all major nuclear powers from dispos­ing HLW at sea although low level and intermediate level waste disposal continued into the 1980s[28] when a voluntary moratorium came into force. Sea disposal of solid radioactive waste was abandoned by the UK in 1983.

The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992) reaffirmed the voluntary moratorium on sea disposal and the London Convention of 1996 brought into effect the precautionary approach with a ban on all LLW disposals at sea.