95. Are radioactive wastes disposed in the ocean? If so, where 

 and how, and are there any latent dangers involved? 



Radioactive wastes in concentrations considered harmful to man are 

 contained in storage tanks on land; only low-level concentrations are 

 disposed in the ocean in sealed containers. 



Nuclear generators of electricity will produce large quantities of low- 

 level radioactive wastes. The sea has a great capacity for dispersing con- 

 taminants; however, certain marine organisms have the capacity to con- 

 centrate radioactive and other materials, even in an environment with 

 low levels of concentration. Clams and other sessile (permanently 

 attached) organisms eaten by man concentrate strontium-90 in their 

 bodies; fish also concentrate the material in their bodies. Local game 

 and fish authorities should be consulted before consumption of organ- 

 isms taken from waters containing even low-level radioactive con- 

 taminants. 



Some Russian scientists are of the opinion that disposal of radio- 

 active waste in the sea is potentially harmful, especially if it reaches the 

 sea at times when fish eggs are developing. 



While this view is not shared by all scientists, it does nevertheless 

 suggest a latent danger: any disposal of radioactive materials in the sea 

 is potentially hazardous. The study of organism uptake and concentra- 

 tion of elements in sea water to such an extent that they may become 

 inedible is a subject that promises to receive increasing attention and 

 study by health and Government scientists and authorities. 



Cowan, Robert C. 



Frontiers of the Sea, Doubleday and Company, 1960. 

 Stewart, Harris B., Jr. 



Deep Challenge, Van Nostrand, 1966. 

 Williams, Jerome 



Oceanography, An Introduction to the Marine Sciences, Little, 



Brown and Company, 1962. 



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