541 



a variety of deep geological emplacement that happens to be beneath the 

 ocean. This would be true due to the nature of the containment, regard- 

 less of the fact that the ocean sediments into which the waste would be 

 emplaced are indisputably formed by geophysical processes operating within 

 the ocean basins, emd are not geologically related to the underlying rock 

 of the seafloor. 



There does not at present appear to be clear authority for resolution 

 of the question whether sub-seabed disposal would be "disposal at sea" 

 within the meaning of the Convention. The Convention itself was drafted 

 in 1972 — apparently before the concept of sub-seabed disposal became a 

 serious proposal. Nothing in the Convention itself or associated documents 



mentions the possibility of sub-seabed disposal. The report of the US. 



12 

 delegation to the negotiations does not comment on the possibility. 



Shortly after the Convention was signed and the IAEA was assigned 



to develop technical recommendations for refinement of the Annexes to the 



Convention, the IAEA proposed to adopt a draft paragraph submitted by the 



U.S. Atomic Energy Commission taking note of the possibility of sub-seabed 



disposal and suggesting that it be considered as excluded from the terms 



of the Convention. A preliminary report of the IAEA stated: 



Certain methods of radioactive waste disposal, although not 

 feasible at this time, may eventually be developed technically 

 to the point of proposing the long-term isolation of wastes by 

 emplacement beneath the seabed. Such methods should be evalu- 

 ated as variations of deep geological burial on land and are 

 excluded from the scope of this document because they will not 

 contribute to the radioactivity of the sea.l^ 



The Department of State objected to the statement, however, on the 



grounds that it was inaccurately included in a section of the IAEA draft 



entitled "Sources of Radioactivity in the Sea" and was not in a separate 



