618 



-15- 



In the interim, we believe that DOE's program should provide 

 broader public participation opportunities. In some respects the 

 program has solicited public sector involvement, and those 

 efforts (e.g., briefings and outside review of the 1983 program 

 status document) serve as useful models for other federal R&D 

 programs. Despite those constructive initiatives, we believe 

 that the seabed disposal program also should open its annual 

 program meetings to the public, with participation guidelines, 

 and that it should provide periodic briefings concerning U.S. 

 participation in international work that involves both technical 

 and institutional concerns. 



Program accountability also would be well-served by making 

 special efforts not to unnecessarily overlap Phase II (scientific 

 & environmental feasibility) and Phase III (engineering feasi- 

 bility) activities. Significant overlap blurs the breakpoint 

 review opportunities, and could lead to unnecessary expenditure 

 of federal resources if the Phase II R & D were to trigger any 

 "red lights". One example of Phase II activities that will be 

 critical to the program's future is the completion of heat 

 transfer verification tests, known as the In-situ Heat Transfer 

 Experiment (ISHTE) . Scheduled for deployment and recovery in FY 

 1986-1987, the data from those field tests will provide important 

 information to help determine whether thermal modeling 

 assumptions and measured properties of sediments can be used to 

 predict thermal processes. The results of those tests should be 

 in hand before major commitments are made to Phase III work. 



