533 



induced iow-levei radioactivity. 



Batteiie/Pacif ic Northwest Division (BPND) 



The BattelLe/Pacif ic Northwest Division has been funded by EPA to 

 provide scientific expertise in radiation protection and oceanographic 

 sciences for technical guidance to U.S. delegations to international 

 meetings of the London Dumping Convention, the Nuclear Energy Agency, 

 ana the International Atomic Energy Agency. This is to assure that the 

 U.S. will bring to bear the best available technology for developing 

 U.S. positions and contributions to these meetings. 



Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) 



Additional new research that EPA is supporting includes studies of 

 critical threshold erosion velocities for sediments through an 

 interagency agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and a 

 subcontract with the University of South Florida. The current velocity 

 necessary to resuspend sediment particles lying on the ocean bottom is 

 known as the critical threshold erosion velocity. This is the current 

 velocity at wnich sediments and any adsorbed radionuclides could be 

 picked up by ocean currents and be carried away from a dumps ite. This 



