607 



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efforts. This hearing also provides the opportunity to review 

 the status of ongoing domestic programs that are investigating 

 ocean disposal options for both low- and high-level radioactive 

 waste, and to review developing U.S. positions on several other 

 current legal and policy initiatives pertaining to domestic, 

 regional and international issues. The following two sections of 

 my testimony address the environmental coalition's concerns and 

 recommendations with respect to several of these matters. 

 I. Domestic Activities 



From 1946-1970, the oceans off our U.S. coastline were used 

 as dumpsites for low-level radioactive wastes. Available records 

 indicate that approximately 90,000 canisters, with an estimated 

 total activity of 95,000 curies, were dumped at sites in the 

 Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico — with 99.5 percent of that 

 amount dumped prior to 1963. 



In 1970, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued a 

 report, entitled Ocean Dumping; A National Policy , which 

 concluded that ocean dumping of low-level radioactive wastes 

 presented a very serious and growing threat to the marine 

 environment. Soon thereafter, the Marine Protection, Research 

 and Sanctuaries Act ("Ocean Dumping Act") of 1972 was enacted. 

 33 U.S.C. §1401 et seq. Pursuant to Title I of that Act, no 

 permits may be granted for dumping any high-level radioactive 

 waste in the ocean. Permits for low-level wastes are permitted 

 only upon a determination that "such dumping will not 

 unreasonably degrade or endanger human health, welfare, or 

 amenities, or the marine environment, ecological systems, or 



