311 



prior to this, by the time it would reach the ocean floor, natural 

 dilution and disbursal would result in an environmentally safe 

 level of radioactivity. 



Does that statement apply to all the waste that is in the ocean in 

 your belief? 



Mr. Meyers. I would guess, based on what has gone into the 

 oceans to date, the natural dilution; and dispersion within the 

 ocean would be rather innocuous, and within acceptable standards. 



Mr. Carney. The ocean itself has a vast amount of radioactivity? 



Mr. Meyers. That is right. 



Mr. Carney. How much, in relation to that natural amount, 

 have we added over and above? 



Mr. Meyers. You probably could not even measure it. One of the 

 reasons that I made the statement that I did is that in comparison 

 with the natural radioactivity of the water, the material that we 

 put in would be much below that. 



Mr. Carney. What do you mean by much? Five times? Three 

 times? 



Mr. Meyers. I do not have the figures with me but I can get 

 them for you. 



Mr. Carney. Could you estimate that amount? 



Mr. Meyers. Something like a few percent of the total. 



Mr. Carney. A few percent less or what we put in? 



Mr. Meyers. A few percent of the naturally occurring radioactiv- 

 ity. 



Mr. Carney. Of what we put in there now? 



Mr. Meyers. Yes. 



Mr. Carney. Going back to that submarine, which intrigues me 

 somewhat. 



You said that the waste in that submarine is relatively little. 



What exactly did they do? Did they take out the fuels? 



Mr. Meyers. Yes, the fuel was taken out and only the steel 

 reactor pressure vessel was disposed of. The radioactivity is in- 

 duced radioactivity and it is essentially cobalt-60 with a half-life of 

 about 5 years. 



Within 50 years the level of radioactivity will be greatly reduced 

 and you will be bearly able to measure that. One of the anomalies 

 in the nuclear business is that we have very sophisticated instru- 

 ments and we could measure levels of radioactivity that would be 

 impossible, say, in the toxic chemical arena. The levels that would 

 be in the water associated with the pressure vessel — that is, assum- 

 ing that it dissolves, and we know that it does not — would be 

 relatively innocuous. 



Mr. Carney. Would it be fair to assume based on what you said 

 that the level of radioactivity that would come from that vessel 

 would be less than what would come from someone walking around 

 with a pacemaker on them? 



Mr. Meyers. Than what? 



Mr. Carney. Less than the radioactivity of a person walking 

 around with a pacemaker on. 



Mr. Meyers. Probably. I do not know the numbers but I would 

 guess yes. 



Mr. Carney. Thank you. 



Mr. Studds. Mr. Anderson? 



