452 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



Another type of work we do directly related to oceanography is a 

 type of effort in which we have growing interest and expect to see 

 greater activity in future years — the general field of ocean engineer- 

 ing. We have found that nuclear energy provides a capability for 

 providing power sources of types which will be very much needed for 

 extensive investigations in the ocean. We have had a program for a 

 number of years in providing small isotopic power sources which can 

 be used to power isolated buoys or isolated stations under the sea, 

 installations which need power that can be reliable over a long period 

 of time and subject to essentially no maintenance once the unit is put 

 in. For larger amounts of power at remote locations, it is quite 

 obvious that nuclear reactors in the future will form a source which 

 is greatly advantageous in comparison with any conventional method. 



These programs are supported by us for a different motivation, but 

 it is one that again goes back to our mission in nuclear energy. It is 

 that we are the people who know how to do this and we have a 

 mission to apply nuclear energy wherever it is feasible. 



So, as we see that it may be feasible and useful to apply nuclear 

 energy to the ocean, we, in coordination with the people who might 

 use this power, set up programs and fund them to bring about such 

 application. This is part of our mission, and we do the work by allo- 

 cating some of the resources we have for developing nuclear power to 

 this oceanographic application. We expect to do more of this in the 

 future. It has been relatively small in the past. 



There is a third type of work we do which relates to the oceans that 

 is not really part of oceanography. For example, we have substantial 

 programs in water desalination. We will get the water from the 

 ocean, but we do not call that oceanography. Similarly, our food 

 irradiation program concentrates on fish irradiation as a major part 

 of the program, and this may lead to the better utilization of a resource 

 from the sea. Our programs in nuclear ship propulsion, naval and 

 merchant marine, relate to the ocean, but we do not call them 

 oceanography. 



In this third area we thus have another group of programs related 

 to different aspects of our overall mission which involve the oceans 

 but which we do not call oceanography. 



I have cited these different programs with their different motiva- 

 tions to indicate the complexity of the overall program in ocean- 

 ography. 



I have heard statements that since the programs are spread aJbout in 

 so many agencies, it would be an obvious improvement to bring them 

 all together. Although I 'am not commenting on this as a general 

 proposition, I would like to point out that from the examples in our 

 agency, you will see that there are activities which normally fit into 

 agencies which would not have a major mission in oceanography. 



On the bills, themselves, let me say that we feel that the coordina- 

 tion which has been carried out through the ICO has been good. It 

 has not been management. We feel it may in the future be necessary 

 to consider some more centralized management for some of the large 

 parts of oceanography, although clearly what I have said implies that 

 you should not just pull all the work together mto one agency. 



We feel that this is a rather complex problem and that our own 

 examples indicate this. There is need for further study. The problem 



