Our present state of knowledge with regard to the pathological 
effects of radiation is given in detail in NAS-NRC Publication 452 (7). 
A summary report of the National Academy of Sciences - National 
Research Council Committee on the Genetic Effects of Atomic Radiation 
was published in 1956 (8). 
The separation of safe from hazardous sea disposal procedures 
must be made, first of all, on the basis of potential hazard to man 
through his normal utilization of the sea, and secondly, on the possibility 
of injurious effect produced in the marine environment itself. 
Our assessment of the quantities and the rates of disposal of low 
level radioactive wastes into in-shore water that will create a potential 
hazard to man, through his uses of the sea and marine products, devel- 
oped from consideration of the natural processes occurring in the ma- 
rine environment that could bring the radioactive wastes back to man 
from suggested disposal sites. We have recognized two mechanisms 
that appear to be the most likely avenues through which this could occur, 
They are: (1) transport of the radioactive wastes from the disposal 
sites to the immediate shoreline, thereby creating a potential hazard in 
man's recreational uses of the coast, and (2) uptake of the radioactive 
waste components by one or more of the trophic levels in the marine 
biota with return to man in commercially important fish and shellfish. 
We would emphasize at this point that in all cases our separation 
of hazardous from non-hazardous procedures, so far as man's tolerance 
for radiation is concerned, is based upon the Handbook 52 values for 
maximum permissible amounts of radioisotopes in the total body and 
maximum permissible concentrations in water. The latter are for 
drinking water or for submersion in contaminated fluids. These values 
consider only pathological effects. No evaluation of possible genetic 
damage was attempted when Handbook 52 values were compiled. The 
conclusions in this report, then, may need revision if Handbook 52 max- 
imum permissible levels are drastically altered, or when some of the 
uncertainties introduced by lack of information in our evaluation of the 
oceanographic factors become better known. However, since Handbook 
52 values are thought to be conservative and since our analysis of the 
oceanographic factors presents a conservative estimate of the behavior 
of the environment, as will be described below, we believe disposal 
practices based upon our recommendations have little likelihood of pro- 
ducing a hazard to man's present uses of the coastal waters. 
In the reports of quantities of radioactive substances already dis- 
posed of at sea one usually finds only the number of curies recorded. 
Only infrequently are the isotopes listed. Although this is unavoidable 
in many cases, a knowledge of the curie content of a disposal container 
only partially defines the potential hazard of the material. The extreme 
variability in the maximum permissible concentrations of various iso- 
topes in drinking water (3), for example, 2 x 10-land 8 x 107 uc/cc for 
tritium and strontium 90 respectively, emphasizes this point. 
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