680 



With suffiriert. data ci cr. in disposal already in hand for current 

 project planning purposes, we are phasing out our study activity 

 at this time. Although we believe the University of Rhode Island 

 experiment is an excellent one for the purposes of EPA standards 

 development and for basic research such as radioactivity uptake 

 and pathway analyses, we cannot justify continued DOE support of 

 it for near-term FUSRAP project needs. Our understanding is that 

 the EPA is planning to continue their work in this area. 



DOE will continue to have a longer term interest in the possibility 

 of ocean disposal for FUSRAP waste should future institutional 

 conditions favor it as a viable option. 



In the area of high-level waste disposal. Section 222 of the 

 Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 directs the Secretary of Energy 

 to continue and accelerate a program of research, development and 

 investigation of alternative means and technologies for the perma- 

 nent disposal of high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear 

 reactors. In this regard, the Department's Office of Civilian 

 Radioactive Waste Managanent is assessing the feasibility of sub- 

 seabed disposal concept. 



The Department plans to continue its assessment of the feasibility 

 of subseabed disposal of radioactive wastes. The cancellation of 

 the joint DOE-NE/EPA MERL experiment at the University of 

 Rhode Island has no direct Impact on the objective to assess 

 concept feasibility of subseabed sisposal of high-level radioactive 

 wastes. 



