- 5 - 



actually exists over the bottom at any given time. 



If the quantities of radioisotopes being considered for sea 

 disposal were sufficient so that the above calculation suggested 

 a potential hazard it would be worth re-evaluating some of the 

 assumptions and eliminating some of the excessive factors of 

 safety which are included in t he calculation. However, this seems 

 unnecessary at the present time since our calculation shows that, 

 even under the assumed conditions, which are the worst which could 

 be postulated, the chances of hazard to human beings are negli- 

 gible. 



Monitoring of Disposal Areas 



It is strongly recommended that a continuing system of moni- 

 toring of the disposal area should be established. Each disposal 

 area selected should be surveyed prior to any disposal operations 

 to establish the normal condition /except those already in use for 

 the disposal of radioactive wastes^and should be revisited perio- 

 dically after disposal operations start. For each area selected, 

 a nearby "control" area should also be selected so that the normal 

 fluctuation in the area can be compared with those which occur in 

 the disposal area itself. Insofar as possible the control area 

 should be upstream of the disposal area as indicated by the normal 

 non-tidal drift and should be far enough away from the disposal 

 area so that oscillating tidal currents could not be expected to 

 carry contaminated water to a control area during any stage of the 

 tidal cycle. 



One of the important reasons for a monitoring system is that 

 of public relations - to assure the public that the operation is 

 in no way creating a hazard to man. An even more important pur- 

 pose of the monitoring, however, is to evaluate the recommenda- 

 tions and conclusions of this committee. Although our conclu- 

 sions have been based upon the best scientific evidence now 

 available, the committee is acutely aware of the fact that too 

 little is known to evaluate many of the variables which we have 

 had to consider. The committee feels that its recommendations 

 have been over-conservative in order to provide the maximum 

 factor of safety against the development of a hazard to man. If 

 the monitoring system is carefully devised to evaluate the vari- 

 ables as well as to describe condition^ as they exist at a given 

 time a much better foundation for later recommendations will be 

 available, A carefully planned monitoring program will serve 

 three purposes, that of public relations, the evaluation of the 

 co.nclusions and recommendations of this committee, and the 

 development of a fund of basic information which will be re- 

 quired for ultimate revision or modification of these recom- 

 mendations as, if or when the quantities of radioisotopes to be 

 disposed in the sea increase in the future. 



Our conclusions have been based upon assumptions which in- 

 clude the worst possible combination of circumstances to assure 



