571 
-13- 
Practices in the Atomic Energy Industry. "Materials are considered 
"high level' when the emitted radiation intensity is so strong as 
to materially reduce the time a person can be near the radiating 
body (quantitatively 2 rems or more per hour) and low-level wastes" 
can be handled directly without undue consideration given to time 
of contact (or up to 50 millirems per now) It is important 
to note that the licenses issued to disposal companies stated 
that the radiation level at any accessible surface on the con- 
tainer shall not exceed 200 millirems per hour -- four times the 
level permitted under the AEC See aeeama aia activity at the 
surface of a package does not determine, by itself, whether the 
enclosed wastes are high-or low-level, GAO fails to even consider 
such information to be relevant to its pete 
Evidence that high-level waste was dumped off our coastlines 
can be found in various sources. For example, the above 1955 
AEC Report, cited by Hon. Glenn Anderson in congressional hearings, 
described the procedures used for processing high-level waste at 
a facility, Bettis Field, in Pittsbura, anor ne = See 
high-level wastes were shipped from Bettis Field to a Navy dock 
in Earle, New Jersey. Congressman Anderson discovered that, 
-"fi]Jn 1955 alone Bettis Field packaged 740 high level drums for 
30/ 
ocean disnosal." 
26/ A.B. Joseph, Radioactive Waste Disposal Practices in the 
Atomic Energy Industry -- A Survey of the Costs (1955) at 2-3. 
27/ November 1980 Hearings, supra note 6, at 266. 
28/ Under current Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Environmentai 
Protection Agency regulations, the source of the waste is the 
principal factor in determining whether it is high-or low-level. 
SES SO Eoilolio Wekse SOp Ajo 1 (2) (Mie 7 GO Corso S227 530 | |PaBAle 
29/ November 1980 Hearings, supra note 6, at 270. 
s0y/> ta: 
