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Mr. D' Amours. Thank you, Mr. Sjoblom. 



Before proceeding with Mr. Lawrence, I would Hke to recognize 

 Mr. Shumway of California for a unanimous-consent request. 



Mr. Shumway. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that. 



I regret that I was not here at the very beginning of the hearing. 

 I do have a statement, however, and I would ask unanimous con- 

 sent that I be allowed to revise and extend my remarks at a point 

 in the record shortly after the chairman's statement. 



Mr. D' Amours. Without objection, that is so ordered. 



[The statement of Mr. Shumway is on p. 519.] 



We will now hear from the Department of Energy. Mr. Law- 

 rence. 



STATEMENT OF MICHAEL J. LAWRENCE 



Mr. Lawrence. I am pleased to be here today to discuss the De- 

 partment of Energy's subseabed disposal program for high-level ra- 

 dioactive waste and note that the Department's interest in ocean 

 disposal of low-level waste from its remedial action program has 

 been addressed in a statement which has been submitted for the 

 record. Mr. Jack Baublitz, who has responsibility for that program, 

 is present today to answer any questions you may have. 



Mr. Chairman, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, which Con- 

 gress passed last year, establishes as a primary objective of our 

 country's radioactive waste disposal program the development of 

 mined geologic repositories for the disposal of high-level radioactive 

 waste. Our program is set up and established to provide such a 

 high-level radioactive waste repository in deep geologic formations 

 capable of accepting waste by 1998. 



Also, the act does provide for the continued and accelerated de- 

 velopment of alternative means of disposal of high-level radioactive 

 waste. Right now, the subseabed disposal program of the Depart- 

 ment is the only such alternative being developed. 



The DOE subseabed disposal program began in 1974, and in 1976 

 the Seabed Working Group, under the auspices of the Nuclear 

 Energy Agency of the OECD, was initiated and formally constitut- 

 ed in 1977. This working group consists of eight countries plus the 

 European Economic Community and is considering the feasibility 

 of seabed disposal of high-level radioactive waste. In order to put 

 this concept in the proper perspective, I have prepared a chart 

 which is before you now, which I will just run through briefly to 

 show you what the concept is for the disposal of high-level radioac- 

 tive waste in the subseabed. 



Radioactive waste, which would originate either at a reactor, re- 

 processing plant or a monitored retrieval storage facility, would be 

 transported to a port facility by either rail, barge, or truck, where 

 the waste would be put into a penetrator assembly and otherwise 

 packaged, and then placed on a ship for transport to the disposal 

 site. At that point, one of the the basic concepts would be used to 

 put the waste into the ocean floor. 



This could be done either through a free-fall penetrator, or a 

 boosted penetrator launched from either ship or from a penetrator 

 platform, or a drill rig could actually be used to drill a core in the 

 ocean floor for implantation of the waste. We are talking about dis- 



