135 



marine, which were disposed of in the ocean. 

 Currently, however, there are 16 nuclear 

 power plants in operation, 55 under construc- 

 tion, and 25 for which construction permit 

 api^lications are pending with the Atomic 

 Energy Commission. (70) If current fore- 

 casts are realized, by the year 2000, the equiv- 

 alent of up to 1,000 nuclear power units, 

 each with a capacity of some 1,000 mega- 

 watts, may be operating. In addition, the 

 Navy has about 90 nuclear-powered sub- 

 marines and surface ships, and many more 

 may be built in the next 30 years as a large 

 portion of the current naval fleet is replaced. 

 Commercial nuclear ships — currently the 

 N.S. SAVANNAH is the only one^may 

 become economically feasible in the future. 



A lifetime of 10 to 30 years for the power 

 plants' and ships' reactor vessels is reasonable 

 in terms of physical or technological obsoles- 

 cense. Their radiation leA'els vary considera- 

 bly, up to 50,000 curies of induced radiation 

 in each stnaoture. (70) 



Individually none of these sources adds 

 significant amounts of radioactivity to the 

 ocean. Taken together, however, the increases 

 could be of significant concern. 



Dredge Spoils 



In the long run, the reduction of polluted 

 discharge from municipal and industrial 

 sources, brought about by water quality 

 standards, will lessen the problem from 

 dredge spoils. However, they will remain a 

 problem for at least the next 5 to 10 years. 

 During this period, there will be pressures 

 for more dredging to deal with increasing 

 marine commerce, to meet the desire of cities 



for new deep-water harbors, and to provide 

 draft for larger vessels (including the super- 

 tankers used to transport oil). These needs 

 will all increase total dredging and hence 

 dredge spoils. 



Explosives and Chemical Munitions 



The following are Department of Defense 

 estimates of conventional munitions planned 

 for disposal : in 1970, 103,777 tons ; in 1971, 

 88,835 tons; and in 1972, 80,000 tons. (26) 

 These quantities are several times larger than 

 the total volume of these wastes disposed of 

 at sea in the last two decades. They indicate 

 the quantities which would enter the marine 

 environment if no other disposal technique 

 were employed. 



Chemical munitions have also been dis- 

 posed of at sea in three deep-water disposal 

 operations, but actual quantities involved are 

 not known. No future ocean disposal opera- 

 tions are planned. Biological agents have not 

 previously been disposed of at sea, and no 

 future disposal is projected. 



SUMMARY 



The data indicate that the volume of wastes 

 dumped in the ocean is increasing rapidly. 

 Many are harmful or toxic to marine life, 

 hazardous to human health, and esthetically 

 unattractive. In all likelihood, the volume of 

 ocean-dumped wastes will increase greatly 

 due to decreasing capacity of existing dis- 

 posal facilities, lack of nearby land sites, 

 higher costs, and political i^roblems in ac- 

 quiring new sites. 



