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legality of seabed emplacement of radioactive wastes under 

 international law, our reading of the LDC leads to the con- 

 clusion that such treaty law prohibits the emplacement of 

 high-level radioactive wastes. 



Domestically, the 1972 Marine Protection, Research and 

 Sanctuaries Act ("Ocean Dumping Act") governs ocean dumping. 

 Certain sections of the statute (33 U.s.C. <;§1402(f) and 1412(a)) 

 prohibit the issuance of permits to dispose of high-level radio- 

 active wastes in the ocean. With resDect to the legality of 

 seabed emplacement of high-level wastes under U.S. law, the 

 consensus of the government agencies that participated in this 

 Subcommittee's 1978 hearings v/as that such emplacement is 

 prohibited. 



Some very preliminary work directed at assessing international 

 and domestic legal issues associated with seabed emplacement of 

 high-level waste is presently being done under the Department of 

 Energy's Seabed Disposal Program ("SDP"). Under the SDP work 

 schedule, the Department of Energy might recommend statutory 

 changes, in the early 1990' s, of our domestic and international 

 law to affirm the legality of seabed emplacement. We agree that 

 no changes in the controlling domestic and international laws 

 should be considered for the foreseeable future, since it would 

 be premature to review such legal principles prior to determining 

 that emplacement is environmentally and technically sound. 



B. Concerns and Recommendations 



The U.S. is involved, both nationally and internationally, 

 in examining the feasibility of emplacing these wastes under 

 the seabed. DOE's Seabed Disposal Program received funding 



