382 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1963 



materials could be disposed if proper dilution was assured. Also, 

 if properly packaged, these wastes could be dumped in selected oceanic 

 areas that had been judged to be removed from accidental contact 

 with man. 



A major step in wastes management was taken when President 

 Eisenhower announced the United States policy of "Atoms for Peace" 

 to include the production of power and the utilization of radioisotopes 

 in research, in industry, and for medical purposes. The diversifica- 

 tion of uses of nuclear energy has resulted in confusion of the defini- 

 tion of nuclear wastes. Pure strontium 90 is an excellent material 

 for nuclear batteries that can provide electricity for oceanic and space 

 uses. Strontiiun 90 in fallout from nuclear weapons tests and from 

 operating nuclear reactors is a principal concern of those responsible 

 for the control of the use of nuclear products in industry. 



Iodine 131 is a radioactive isotope that may be concentrated to their 

 detriment by biological organisms on contact with fresh fission wastes. 

 Yet iodine 131 is also a valuable material that is used for medical 

 treatment as an often favored alternative to X-rays. 



The level of wastes concentration in the ocean is determined to a 

 large degree by the physical state of the wastes, initial mechanical 

 dilution, rates of difi'usion, and the abundance and proximity of silt, 

 sediments, and marine populations. Radioactive wastes are peculiar 

 in not being susceptible to biological or oxidative treatments. Long- 

 lived radioisotopes may produce effects in a local area or in a dispersed 

 area for many years. Thus, the most exacting requirements for any 

 industry are placed on the nuclear industry for disposal of its wastes. 

 If other industries met the disposal standards for the nuclear industry, 

 the problems of pollution would be minor ones. 



Until the Atomic Energy Act of 1955 was passed, the U.S. Atomic 

 Energy Commission was totally responsible for all phases of the pro- 

 duction of nuclear materials, their utilization, and the disposal of 

 nuclear wastes. On the premise that a single operating agency should 

 not have complete responsibility for monitoring its own activities, the 

 President established, in 1960, a Federal Radiation Council. He 

 asked this council to set standards for allowable radiation exposure 

 and to keep watch over the routes whereby humans might be exposed 

 to radiation. 



Such standards had been estimated, with different results, by the 

 U.S. National Committee on Radiation Protection and Measurements 

 and the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The 

 allowable exposure limits of the Federal Radiation Council are some- 

 what different from those of either of the groups mentioned above, and 

 each differs from the other as well, since many of the assumptions were 

 based more or less on educated guesses. 



