296 



l-A. General Provisions . 



1-401. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Executive order, 



the functions of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee 



Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. I), except that of reporting annually 



to the Congress, that are applicable to the Council, shall be performed 



by the Secretary of Energy in accordance with guideline? and procedures 



established by the Administrator of General Services. 



1-402. The Council shall terminate thirty days after it transmits its 



final report to the President, but in no event shall it terminate later 



than eighteen months after the effective date of this Order. 



THE WHITE HOUSE 

 February 12, 1980 



Mr. Meyers. The DOE's disposal activities are also consistent 

 with the programs described in hearings before congressional au- 

 thorization and appropriation committees and contained in the 

 fiscal year 1981 Appropriations Act, Public Law 96-367. 



Because of current congressional interest in other previous ocean 

 disposal practices, it might be helpful to review those earlier prac- 

 tices as a preface to considering the unrelated subseabed disposal 

 concept. The disposal of high level radioactive waste into the ocean 

 has never been practiced by the U.S. Government and is now 

 prohibited by U.S. domestic legislation — the Marine Protection, Re- 

 search and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 — and also by the 1972 London 

 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of 

 Waste and Other Matter, which the United States has ratified. The 

 United States has, however, previously disposed of low level radio- 

 active waste in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. No new 

 licenses for ocean disposal of low level waste have been issued since 

 about 1960. Furthermore, the practice of ocean disposal was discon- 

 tinued by 1970 mainly because of the opening of less costly low 

 level radioactive waste land burial sites. The safety of this previous 

 practice was predicated on the assumption that, even if the waste 

 were released at the time it reached the ocean floor, natural dilu- 

 tion and dispersal would result in environmental safe levels of 

 radioactivity. 



Ocean disposal was regulated by the Atomic Energy Commis- 

 sion's (AEC) Office of Regulation until 1972 when the Marine Pro- 



