429 



Slide No. 24 



Whenever we go out and do a deep-sea survey, as soon as we 

 answer one question another question pops up. This slide illus- 

 trates that point. This is a starfish called Dytaster sitting on what 

 appears to be a mound encircled by a fairly concentric ring of 

 small burrow holes. This is only found at the 2,800-meter Atlantic 

 site. We haven't found it at any other site. We don't know what 

 causes it. 



The deep-sea biologists don't know what causes it. We have 

 probed this area and never found a proof-positive causal agent for 

 these circles, commonly called "fairy rings". And yet the most 

 common feature throughout the 2,800-meter site has been the pres- 

 ence of these fairy rings. 



We still don't know what they are due to, or their significance, if 

 any. 



Before I conclude my statement I would like to introduce for the 

 record, the Press Release we issued prior to this 1978 3,800-meter 

 survey, which outlines in much more detail the objectives of that 

 survey. 



[Environmental News, June 19, 1978] 



EPA To Survey Deep-sea Radioactive Waste Dumpsite in Atlantic 



The Environmental Protection Agency will conduct a research investigation at 

 the deepest of the four major oceanic radioactive waste disposal sites used by the 

 U.S. between 1946-1970. 



The site is located at a depth of 13,000 feet, approximately 200 miles off the 

 Maryland-Delaware coast. An estimated 14,500 fifty-five gallon drums containing a 

 total of 2,100 curies of radioactivity were deposited at the site approximately 20 

 years ago. 



Using the deep submersible ALVIN, operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution, the Office of Radiation Programs plans to conduct a detailed survey of 

 the condition of the radioactive waste drums dumped at the site and to examine the 

 sea bottom around the drums to determine if the radioactive contents have been 

 released. 



