315 



The^e is no safety reason why one could not store the waste in 

 those tanks for extended periods of time. 



Mr. Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Studds. Thank you very much, Mr. Meyers. I appreciate it. 



Mr. Studds. Our next witnesses are Dr. D. R. Anderson, director, 

 seabed disposal program, Sandia Laboratory, Albuquerque, N. 

 Mex., and Dr. Charles D. HoUister, senior scientist and dean of 

 graduate studies. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Dr. An- 

 derson and Dr. Hollister, I understand you have a joint paper, 

 which testimony will be presented by Dr. Anderson. Let me an- 

 nounce at this time that after the testimony of Dr. Anderson and 

 Dr. Hollister, the subcommittee will break for lunch and we will 

 resume with our final witnesses at 2 o'clock this afternoon. 



Dr. Hollister. Dr. Anderson will be describing the seabed dispos- 

 al program. I think from the oceanographic community's point of 

 view our first reaction is also similar to those of this committee's: 

 "Why our oceans? And certainly not in my ocean." So, we have 

 had a lot of research and a lot of deep thinking that has continued. 

 And what Dr. Anderson and I will try to do is to tell you what we 

 know and what we don't know. We don't know a whole lot, but we 

 also do know a lot. I would like to share that with you. 



Mr. Studds. How long is your slide presentation going to be? 



Dr. Anderson. It will be probably 15 minutes. 



Mr. Studds. I was going to say if there are some people who 

 would like to sit around this inner circle, in spite of the risk to 

 their reputation of being considered as Members of Congress, you 

 are pleased to do that. 



Dr. Hollister. Particularly for the slides, I think it is really 

 important to see them in order to understand what the oceans are 

 all about. 



STATEMENT OF DR. D. RICHARD ANDERSON, PROGRAM MAN- 

 AGER, SEABED PROGRAMS DIVISION, SANDIA NATIONAL 

 LABORATORY, ALBUQUERQUE, N. MEX.; AND DR. CHARLES D. 

 HOLLISTER, SENIOR SCIENTIST, DEAN OF GRADUATE STUD- 

 IES, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION, WOODS 

 HOLE, MASS. 



Dr. Hollister. Why don't you get started? 



Dr. Anderson. OK, I will. 



Mr, Chairman and members of the committee, we are pleased to 

 be here today to address the subject of disposal of nuclear wastes 

 by burial in the sea floor. 



I would like to summarize our testimony briefly here, which 

 addresses the seabed disposal option for high-level waste or spent 

 fuel, and give additional information of general interest. 



I would like to begin the summary by addressing the question of 

 why the oceans were ever considered for disposal of high-level 

 radioactive waste. 



Back in 1974 the Atomic Energy Commission was faced with the 

 problem of disposal of high-level wastes or spent fuel. They chose to 

 look at the entire globe for possible repositories. If they did not 

 assess that portion of the globe covered by water as shown in the 

 first slide, we would not, we, meaning mankind, would not have 

 made a complete assessment. The 70 percent of the globe covered 



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