OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 337 



both a marine and a land program to carry on a full-scale ecological 

 study. 



Mr. Pelly. I think the economy of the new State of Alaska is really 

 dependent upon their great resource of fisheries. It is about a hun- 

 dred-million-dollar industry and really is the only cash crop Alaska 

 has. The effect of any experiment on their fisheries resource is very 

 important, 



Mr. JVIiLLER. Mr. Lennon. 



Mr. Lennon. Doctor, I notice in your statement you say that one 

 of the duties of the AEC program is to establish the operating criteria 

 for the disposal of low-level wastes from industrial operations and 

 also nuclear ship operation. That is on page 10. That is one of the 

 duties of the AEC. That is paragraph 3, on page 10. 



You say that in addition to monitoring of fallout the AEC's pro- 

 gram is aimed at establishing operating criteria for radioactive waste 

 disposal, the packaging of low-level waste, et cetera. That is a func- 

 tion of the AEC, is it not? 



Dr. Seymour. Yes ; it is. Dr. Lieberman is here. Do you intend 

 to discuss this subject ? 



Mr. Lennon. Keeping that in mind, go back to page 3. These low- 

 level or low-activity wastes you say are committed to the ocean for 

 disposal. They come, of course, from industrial plants located inland 

 or ashore. You state further on that same page in paragraph 3 that 

 nuclear powerplants are being used for production of electricity and 

 for research. The irradiated-fuel elements from these reactors are 

 higlily radioactive and will probably never be disposed to the ocean. 



How are tiiey disposed ? Is it by burying ? 



Dr. Seymour. At the present time they are disposed of in vaults. 

 These are concentrated wastes that are stored in vaults underground. 



Dr. Lieberman. Not unless there is some specific point. 



Mr. Lennon. That is a rather expensive operation, I assume, as 

 compared with dumping them in the ocean ? 



Dr. Seymour. Dr. Lieberman of the Division of Reactor Develop- 

 ment is here and would be able to answer this better than I. 



Mr. Miller. Will you please identify yourself for the record. 



STATEMENT OF DR. JOSEPH LIEBEEMAN, CHIEF OF THE ENVIRON- 

 MENTAL AND SANITARY ENGINEERING BRANCH, REACTOR 

 DEVELOPMENT DIVISION, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION 



Dr. Lieberman. My name is Joseph Lieberman. I am cliief of 

 the environmental and sanitary engineering branch of the Reactor 

 Development Division of the Atomic Energy Commission. 



Mr. Lennon. How are these high test and highly active wastes 

 disposed of from nuclear powerplants and from research ? Are they 

 disposed of by burying in the bowels of the earth, in vaults, or some- 

 thing of the kind ? 



Dr. Lieberman. In connection with this whole question of radio- 

 active waste disposal, it is important to distinguish between low and 

 liigh level wastes which Dr. Wallen intended to do here. The ir- 

 radiated fuel elements from the reactors he refers to are sent to chemi- 

 cal processing plants of wliich at this time there are only three major 

 ones. They are at Hanford, Savannah River, and in Idaho. There 

 is also a smaller scale plant at Oak Ridge. 



