which might actually become due during transit of the continental shelf, 

 while still in waters exceeding 200 fathoms in depth. Ships outbound for 

 an ocean passage should delay discharges, where practical, until after 

 having passed into waters of over 200 fathoms in depth. Discharge may 

 be made only when the ship is under way and more than 3 miles from a 

 neighboring vessel. 



Recommendation 8 : No restriction need be placed on the discharge of 

 low level liquid effluent from nuclear -powered ships into waters of the 

 outer continental shelf, provided that the composition and amount of ac- 

 tivity in such wastes are of the same general character as that predicted 

 for the primary coolant of the SAVANNAH or observed for the primary 

 coolant of the NAUTILUS. 



The open sea, more than 12 miles from any shore, and 

 having depths greater than 200 fathoms (Zones 4a and 4b) : 



This segment of the marine environinent has a greater capacity 

 for receiving radioactive wastes than any of the other subdivisions con- 

 sidered in this report. The area of the open sea which is employed in 

 this sample computation consists of the North Atlantic trade route from 

 New York to London. The results of the evaluation for this environment 

 are summarized in the following table, which gives the maximum per- 

 missible activity for a single discharge as a function of selected values 

 of the ppc for the environment and the maximum permissible number of 

 such discharges per month, 



ppc value Permissible Activity in a Single Discharge 



for the For 30 discharges For 300 discharges 



environment per month per month 



(|J,c/ml) (curies) (curies) 



10-9 9.5x10 2x10 



10-S 9.5xl02 2xl02 



10-7 9.5x10^ 2x10^ 



For fishing areas of the open sea (Zone 4a), the weighted mean ppc 

 value for the spent ion exchange resins of the NAUTILUS is 1 x 10*^ nc/ml, 

 and for non-fishing areas (Zone 4b), 7 x 10"^ [ic/ml. The corresponding 

 values for the SAVANNAH are slightly higher. If 300 nuclear -powered 

 ships should each discharge spent ion exchange resins 6 times a year, 

 there would be on the average 150 such discharges per month. If all these 



