524 



that meeting to reach agreement on the provisions relating to the 

 storage and disposal of radioactive waste. In any event, we will be 

 working toward early agreement on a convention which will serve 

 the mutual interests of all the states of the region. 



Mr. Chairman, thank you once again for the opportunity to 

 appear before your subcommittee. I would be pleased to answer 

 whatever questions you may have. 



Mr. D' Amours. Thank you, Mary Rose. You made it in less than 

 11 minutes. That is very good. 



We are going to withhold questions, of course, until the entire 

 panel has testified, and we will next hear either from Glen Sjob- 

 lom, or Mr. Michael Lawrence. 



STATEMENT OF GLEN SJOBLOM 



Mr. Sjoblom. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, I am 

 Glen Sjoblom, Director of EPA's Office of Radiation Programs, and 

 with me on my left is Mr. Tudor Davies, who is the Acting Deputy 

 Director of the Office of Water. 



I appreciate the opportunity to bring the committee up to date 

 on the activities, both domestically and in the international scene, 

 of the EPA, regarding disposal of radioactive waste in the ocean. 



As the chairman indicated, the two key events in the past year 

 have been the amendments to the Marine Protection Research and 

 Sanctuaries Act and the adoption at the London Dumping Conven- 

 tion of the nonbinding resolution, as well as a chartering of an in- 

 ternational scientific review of the merits of sea disposal. 



The Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act requires 

 EPA to establish and apply criteria for reviewing and evaluating 

 permit applications for ocean disposal of waste materials not pro- 

 hibited by this act, including low level radioactive wastes. We have 

 had studies underway since 1974 to help provide a scientific basis 

 for evaluating any such permit applications. 



I would like to review EPA's continuing and new research stud- 

 ies. I will paraphrase my statement, Mr. Chairman, because it is as 

 you know, quite extensive. 



Mr. D' Amours. That would be appreciated, Mr. Sjoblom, and 

 your entire statement, as all statements, will in their entirety be 

 printed in the record just as they have been submitted. 



Mr. Sjoblom. Thank you. 



We have a number of national laboratories working for us in this 

 area and I would like to briefly touch on a few of these, especially 

 emphasizing the new work we have undertaken. 



Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is gather- 

 ing and has been gathering data on radioactivity in marine biota 

 and evaluating possible biological effects on marine organisms that 

 may result from low levels of radiation exposure. 



In the area of new research, this laboratory is investigating new 

 methods for observing changes in marine organisms at various ra- 

 diation levels. Such measures we hope could supplement normal 

 radiation dose model predictions and possibly provide another ef- 

 fective monitoring technique. 



Since 1980, the Brookhaven National Laboratory has conducted a 

 number of studies and provided technical expertise to EPA and 



