MARINE SCIENCE 33 



It has never been reduced to any one person's ownership, and if it 

 was the ocean itself wouldn't abide by it, so we have to be on the ball 

 in this respect. 



The Chairman. Thank you, Doctor. 



Do you have any questions, Senator ? 



Senator Thurmond. I notice, Dr. Carritt, that you recommend 

 training of new oceanographers and also to provide facilities, both 

 land-based and seagoing as a solution to this problem. 



Mr. Carritt. Yes. 



Senator Thurmond. Did you make any recommendation in your 

 statement with regard to these w^astes that you talk about during most 

 •of your statement, about what should be done about it ? 



Mr. Carritt. No, I did not make any such recommendations. These 

 were made in the National Academy Keport No. 655. 



Senator Thuemond. Wliat is your opinion about these wastes? 

 Should we begin to take some steps to try to prevent this ? 



Mr. Carritt. I think first of all we have to realize what is meant by 

 the term "radioactive waste." 



Generally speaking, you can picture such wastes in two categories. 

 'One, these so-called high-level wastes, the massive quantities of waste. 

 These are the wastes that are put in tanks and held on land away from 

 onan. 



I Senator Thurmond. I might interrupt there and say at the Savan- 



: nah River plant in my home county, Atomic Energy is placing the 



waste underground. They have a tremendous tunnel underground 



and they are placing the waste there and covering it up. They have 



it in tanks. I think it is a concrete tank. At any time, it is placed in 



; a safe place, they say, underground. 



Mr. Carritt. That is very likely the high-level waste, the large 

 quantities of waste that everybody that I have ever talked to agrees 

 cannot be released to man's environment. 



In addition to high level wastes there are smaller quantities of radi- 

 ation associated with the normal running of industrial and university 

 laboratories. The volume of this waste material is large in compari- 

 . son to the amount of radiation involved. It is in the form of liquids, 

 rags, carcasses, chemical glassware, and things of this sort. Each 

 unit by itself does not constitute a hazard. It is the kind of thing that 

 must be removed from the laboratory merely because it takes up 

 space. 



Some of this material can actually be dumped down the drain. If 

 the concentration is low enough. This material goes out through the 

 normal waste treatment processes in the city. 



When the quantity of radioactivity gets a little bit above a certain 

 amomit according to regulations, it can no longer be dumped down 

 the drain. 



We are faced now with the problem of what to do with this ma- 

 terial. Actually if we put it in a barrel we could sit on that barrel 

 for 8 hours a day for the rest of our lives and receive no damage. 



Now, the problem is, what should we do with this materiaL 



One practice has been to dump it into specified locations in the 

 oceans. After examining this problem in detail, the National Acad- 

 emy Committee suggested that a detailed survey be made of a group 

 of locations, which were specified by latitude and longitude. These 



