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A. Legal Issues 



(1) The Definition of "Dumping" Under the Ocean Dtimping Convention 

 Article IV, Sec. (1) (a) of the Convention prohibits the "dumping" of 

 HLW. "Dumping" is defined in Art. 1X1, Sec. (1) (a) to include disposal 

 "at sea". At first glance, this definition would appear to include sub- 

 seabed disposal, because the operations leading to disposal would be 

 conducted from vessels at sea and because the final position of the mater- 

 ials deposited would be at geographic coordinates covered by ocean waters. 

 The definition in the Convention may also be interpreted to exclude sub- 

 seabed disposal, however. As Deese has commented, the "at sea" phrase 

 of the definition can be interpreted to refer to the locus of the dumping 

 operation itself or the position of the materials disposed of. Semanti- 

 cally, the latter interpretation appears preferable, since the definition 

 specifies separately that the act must be carried out from "vessels, air- 

 craft, platforms or other man-made structures at sea". Since the second 

 "at sea" applies to the location of the vessel or facility from which 

 disposal is undertaken (and therefore presumably to the location of the 

 activity itself) , the first "at sea" may be read to apply to the position 

 of the materials disposed of. This position should in turn be read to be 

 the final position of the materials, since there is nothing that prohibits 

 the transportation of HLW over or through the sea for the purposes of dis- 

 posal elsewhere. If the final position of the wastes were such that they 

 would be completely isolated from the marine environment, then emplacement 

 of wastes in the secibed may not be "dumping" within the operational terms 

 of the Convention, since it would not result in final disposal "at sea". 

 Thus, it has been claimed that sub-seabed disposal should be considered 



