566 
15/ 
site for low-level radioactive waste. | Since the fall of 1981, 
EPA officials have advised members of Congress and other indivi- 
duals that revisions of the existing regulations would soon be 
released. 
The proposed changes to the EPA regulations which have sur- 
16/ 
faced in draft form suggest that the primary purpose behind 
the radioactive waste revisions is to incorporate international 
criteria agreed to by the U.S. and other parties to the London 
Dumping Convention. It appears that EPA officials recognize 
that permits for such dumping cannot be approved absent express 
inclusion of those criteria in our domestic regulations. 
EPA interest in revising its regulations appears to be 
driven in part by federal agency interest in the ocean option. 
The Navy is considering the ocean as a disposal site for decom- 
missioned nuclear submarines, and expects to issue a draft Environ- 
UY 
mental Impact Statement on that subject this summer. At the 
ply In addition to this interest in low-level radioactive waste 
dumping, the Dept. of Energy (DOE) is engaged in a long-term 
research program begun in the mid-1970's to assess the feasibility 
of implanting high-level radioactive waste beneath the seabed. 
Phase II of the DOE's Seabed Disposal Program (SDP) consists of 
technical and environmental feasibility studies due to be com- 
pleted by 1986-88. While SDP studies can provide scientific data 
and research that will benefit decisionmakers concerned with dis- 
posal of low-level wastes, that program is not of direct concern 
in the context of this paper because (1) it is focused on high- 
level radioactive waste seabed emplacement and (2) decisions as 
to the efficacy of such disposal are several years from resolution. 
16/ Environmental Protection Agency, Ocean Dumping: Revision of 
Regulations and Criteria, 40 C.F.R. Parts 220-229, draft of Feb. 
Bp) aLEKS 
17/ Permanent Disposal of Decommissioned, Defueled Naval Submarine 
Reactor Plants; Intent to Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement, 47 Fed. Reg. 2151 (1982). 
