APPENDIX I (Continued) 



Commission. These operations generally follow the recommendations 

 of the National Committee on Radiation Protection (Handbook 58). The 

 wastes, in weighted containers, are taken out to disposal areas desig- 

 nated by the Navy as ammunition and hazardous chemical disposal areas. 



The Atomic Energy Commission has recommended to the commer- 

 cial waste disposers that they dispose of their radioactive wastes in the 

 designated areas used by the Navy. There are no strong scientific 

 reasons for requiring them to do so. The commercial operations balk 

 at going out so far because it would cost them more money - money for 

 ocean-going vessels and money for the additional time involved. The 

 additional expense would in turn be reflected in higher charge for their 

 services. Naturally, they would like their costs to be as low as possible 

 so that they cannot only compete with each other, but also with other 

 methods of radioactive waste disposal (such as burial on land). 



There exists this seeming conflict of interests - the Atomic Energy 

 Commission would prefer all radioactive wastes be disposed in the 

 Navy designated areas whereas the commercial waste disposers would 

 like to dispose their radioactive wastes as close to shore as possible. 

 Hence, the Atomic Energy Comnaission is desirous of examining the 

 feasibility of establishing designated areas suitable for the disposal of 

 radioactive wastes closer to the Atlantic Coast line than the disposal 

 areas now located 100 miles and more from shore in water at least 

 1000 fathoms deep. 



OBJECTIVES OF STUDY 



If it can be concluded that it is feasible to dispose of low-level 

 radioactive wastes in certain areas of the Atlantic Ocean not as distant 

 from shore as the existing designated areas, then steps can be taken 

 to establish these areas, and regulations written w^hich will govern 

 their proper use. 



Certain criteria which can be enumerated at this time set the 

 pattern for the establishment of these disposal locations. Atomic 

 Energy Commission feels that as many as 4 or 5 disposal areas can be 

 established along the Atlantic Seaboard. These areas should be conven- 

 ient to port facilities not necessarily in the most densely populated 

 cities but which are accessible by rail or truck by disposers of radio- 

 activity. 



