435 



Slide No. 19. — Shows the ever-present rat-tail fish {Coryphaenoides armatus) on 

 the right, and the eel-hke Synaphobranchus on the left. Both fish feed pelagically; 

 the rat-tail also roots for food in the sediments. 



Slide No. 20. — Shows another common deep-sea fish, Antimora rostrata, common 

 at the 2800m depth but not caught during our trawls near the 3800m dumpsite. 



Slide No. 21. — Is a photograph of another genus of rat-tail fish, Halosauropsis, a 

 bottom feeder. 



Slide No. 22. — Shows the tripod fish, (Bathypterois longipes), found at both the 

 2800m and 3800m sites. 



Slide No. 23. — Shows a chimaera, {Harriotta raleighana), a bottom feeder not 

 commonly caught. Because many species of fish are rapid swimmers they can avoid 

 a trawl net or a slow-moving submersible completely; hence what we see here may 

 be only a small cross-section of a broader range of unobserved organisms present in 

 the site. 



Most of these fish are bottom feeders and could be important in bioturbation (the 

 stirring of the bottom sediments by marine organisms). Bioturbation can result in 

 remobilization of the radioactivity released into or on the sediment surface, with 

 subsequent physical transport or biological uptake and transport. 



Slide No. 2%. — This last slide illustrates the perennial problem in science — for 

 every question answered another one pops up. The two prominent features in this 

 slide are a starfish and a relatively concentric circle of small burrows called a "fairy 

 ring". Of the four sites surveyed, we have observed these rings only at this 2800m 

 site. They are, by far, the most common bottom feature in the area, but the source 

 of these rings in unknown. Sampling within the rings has turned up nothing. The 

 rings are undoubtedly caused by a common inhabitant of the site — but what one? 



SUMMARY 



To date we have looked at four U.S. ocean dumpsite locations — two in the Pacific 

 Farallon Islands area, and two in the Atlantic at depths of 2800m and 3800m. 



As stated earlier, we are concerned with monitoring for various objectives, fore- 

 most of which has been a firsthand-attempt to examine the many biological and 

 physical processes acting on radioactive waste drums in abandoned U.S. nuclear 

 waste disposal sites — processes which could transport or immobilize the radioactive 

 materials. The ability to assess and/or predict, as closely as possible, the impact of 

 past and potential future low-level waste disposal activities is of considerable impor- 

 tance to our agency mandates. Health-impact monitoring of abandoned sites is also 

 perceived as important. But both of these goals are predicated on our ability to 

 understand the biological, chemical, physical, and geological processes which con- 

 tribute to or impede that radiological impact. 



This concludes my prepared testimony. We will be pleased to respond to any 

 questions the subcommittee might have regarding our nuclear waste dumpsite 

 survey program. 



[From the EPA Environmental News, Mon., June 19, 1978] 



EPA TO Survey Deep-Sea Radioactive Waste Dumpsite in the 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-Delware 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. 



The research vessel LULU, support ship for the ALVIN submersible, will depart 

 for the site from Woods Hole, Massachusetts on June 20 and will rendezvous with a 

 second research vessel, the ADVANCE II departing from Wilmington, North Caroli- 

 na on June 18. Present plans call for an eight-day survey with the participation of 

 over thirty researchers from eleven academic institutions, three U.S. Federal agen- 

 cies, and the Japanese Atomic Energy Research Institute. 



An EPA oceanographer will descend in the ALVIN submersible to the 13,000 foot 

 depth in order to examine the condition of the drums and to determine the feasibil- 

 ity of retrieving one of them for later analysis. This will be the twelfth submersible 

 dive in the last four years and is part of the comprehensive survey program 



