The Cold War Era left the major participants, the United States and the
former Soviet Union (FSU), with large legacies in terms of both
contamination and potential accidents. Facility contamination and
environmental degradation, as well as the accident- vulnerable
facilities and equipment, are a result of weapons development, testing,
and production. Although the countries face similar issues from similar
activities, important differences in waste management practices make the
potential environmental and health risks of more immediate concern in
the FSU and Eastern Europe. In the West, most nuclear and chemical waste
is stored in known contained locations, while in the East, much of the
equivalent material is unconfined, contaminating the environment. In the
past decade, the U.S. started to address and remediate these Cold War
legacies. Costs have been very high, and the projected cost estimates
for total cleanup are still increasing. Currently in Russia, the
resources for starting such major activities continue to be unavailable.