610 



-7- 



report on monitoring that was published by NOAA, ^ those studies 



reflect the culmination of research and analyses which were 



concluded without reference to the moratorium. While those 



studies should assist EPA, NOAA and others in assessing the risks 



of radioactive waste disposal, they are not a substitute for 



further research and monitoring focused on past dumpsites and 



test sites off our coasts. 



In this regard, all of the participants in the environmental 



coalition endorsed a critique of the adequacy of the U.S. 



research and monitoring in relation to radioactive waste dumping 



that was published by the Center for Law and Social Policy in 



August 1982. **/ The findings and conclusions of that critique 



were that: 



' the incomplete and inaccurate information that 

 plague the issue of past ocean dumping of nuclear 

 waste presents a serious problem which requires 

 more complete elaboration in order to determine 

 actual or potential hazards; 



" there is not enough hard evidence to provide 

 sufficient certainty that public health and 

 environmental hazards will not result from past 

 dumping practices; 



Micromorpholoqic and Geophysical Analyses , ORP/EPA 520/1-83-0017; 

 Survey of Benthic Invertibrates Collected from the United States 

 2800 Meter Radioactive Waste Disposal Site in the Atlantic 

 Oceans , ORP/EPA 520/1-82-003 (June 1983); and Analysis of Ocean 

 Current Meter Records Obtained from a 1975 Deployment off the 

 Farallon Islands, California , ORP/EPA 520/1-83-0019 (August 

 1583). 



^ Triplett, M. , et al. , Monitoring Technologies for Ocean 

 Disposal of Radioactive Waste , Rand Corp. Report prepared for 

 NOAA, R-2773-NOAA (1982). 



**/ That critique has been submitted previously to this Subcom- 

 mittee, and is included in the full Merchant Marine and Fisheries 

 Committee Report, Disposal of Decommissioned Nuclear Submarines , 

 Hearing before the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 97th Cong., 2nd Sess., 97-47 (1982), at 82-96. 



