FOREWORD 



In June 1958, the Atonnic Energy Comnnission requested the Com- 

 mittee on Oceanography of the National Academy of Sciences - National 

 Research Council to consider the problem of disposal of radioactive 

 wastes from nuclear -powered ships. The Committee on Oceanography 

 asked the Academy's Committee on the Biological Effects of Atomic 

 Radiation on Oceanography and Fisheries to undertake this study. As 

 chairman of the latter Committee, I appointed a special working group 

 under the leadership of Donald Pritchard, 



Following the first meeting of the working group in September 

 1958, drafts of sections of this report were written by individual mem- 

 bers. In December, at the second meeting, the drafts were reviewed. 

 Professor Pritchard then consolidated these contributions into a single 

 document. The report was discussed in detail and approved for publi- 

 cation by the Committee on the Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation 

 on Oceanography and Fisheries in March 1959. 



The report gives a series of detailed and specific recommenda- 

 tions concerning the amounts of different types of radioactive wastes 

 that can be released safely into the sea by nuclear -powered ships. 

 Separate rules are given for each zone of the marine environment. 

 These rules are most restrictive for the innermost zone of harbors, 

 estuaries and coastal waters, and least restrictive for the open sea out- 

 side of fishing areas, more than twelve miles from shore, and where 

 the bottom depth is greater than 200 fathoms. 



The working group has attempted to make its recommendations as 

 precise as possible within the limits of our present knowledge of the 

 physics, chemistry, and biology of the oceans. Where uncertainties exist 

 because of inadequate knowledge, a conservative position has been 

 chosen - that is, the calculations underlying the recommendations may 

 err on the side of safety. Each assumption and each step in the calcula- 

 tions is fully described, however, so that the reader may make an inde- 

 pendent evaluation of the degree of conservatism of the recommended 

 rules. It is sometimes said that biologists and oceanographer s, when 

 considering the introduction of artificial radioactive materials into the 

 sea, tend to pile safety factors upon safety factors to arrive at a quite 

 unrealistic result. I am convinced that any careful reader will conclude 

 this is not true of the present report. 



One of the most important conclusions of the report concerns the 

 necessity for monitoring and maintaining records of the amount and lo- 

 cation of radioactive waste disposal by nuclear ships. This will involve 

 not only action by each maritime country, but also international agree- 

 ment and collaboration. 



Roger Revelle 



