Need for Oceanographic Research. 
If radioactive wastes are dumped in the ocean, sooner or later 
it will be necessary to face the public with some facts regarding the 
fate of the radioactivity. For this reason, even if the ocean has 
capacity for almost unlimited radioactivity for the next 100 years, 
when the wastes are dumped the whole area will have to be us eaaE ES 
At the present time, installations in the United States and Great 
Britain are dumping radioactive wastes in the sea. To be sure, these 
dumpings consist of "low level" wastes; however, little or nothing is 
(ed.) 
being done to ascertain the future state of the wastes. 
Summary of Unknowns in Oceanography: Very little is known 
about the behavior of the ocean environment when foreign materials 
are introduced. Some of the radioactive materials may aid oceano- 
graphers in studying problems of ocean behavior; at least, they make 
it possible to learn a great deal beyond the immediate behavior of 
the radioactive material itself. Oceanographers would like to know 
more about the following problems in order to formulate recommendations 
concerning ocean disposal of radioactive materials. 
1. The biochemistry of the elements in fission produce wastes: 
What are the effects on marine organisms? Will the elements affect 
the productivity of the organisms? Will the wastes affect the value 
of food which is taken from the sea? 
2. The inorganic chemistry of the elements in fission product 
wastes: Do the wastes remain in solution or precipitate out? What 
is a desirable form for the wastes? 
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