set regulations controlling ocean disposal of all materials including low-level radioactive wastes. High-level radioactive wastes are probhibited from disposal in the ocean. On July 26, 1976, the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment held a hearing in Washington, D.C. on EPA's preliminary findings at the Atlantic and Pacific dumpsites. A second hearing on the plutonium leakage at the Pacific dumpsite was conducted on September 17 in San Francisco by the House Subcommittee on Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources. Dr. William D. Rowe, EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Radiation Programs, testified at the California hearing that two preliminary surveys by EPA in 1974 and 1975 have already established that some of the more than 45,000 drums dumped in the area between 1946 and 1965 are leaking low-levels of plutonium. Commenting on the planned study, EPA Administrator Douglas M. Costle said, "The results of the earlier surveys do not indicate that the plutonium already released poses a hazard either to man or the marine environment. But there is a need to determine the fate of the released radioactive materials. The investigation of the Pisces VI should give us essential information on how much plutonium has leaked, where it is going, and whether there are effects on marine life.” The present survey program will be under the direction of Robert S. Dyer, an oceanographer/radioecologist in the EPA's Office of Radiation Programs. Dyer will be aboard the Pandora and will dive in the Pisces VI to locate and recover the radioactive waste drums. Davis S. Smith, also of the Office of Radiation Programs, will be project coordinator aboard the R/V Velero IV. At-sea scientific and technical support for this program will come from both government, university, and private sectors and includes: Brookhaven National Laboratory of the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Service of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and the Environment (DFE), Ocean and Aquatic Science Office of DFE, Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, International Hydrodynamics Company Ltd., Interstate Electronics Corporation, University of Washington, University of Southern California, State University of New York, California Academy of Sciences, California State University, LamontDoherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, University of California at Santa Barbara, Global Marine Development Invorporated, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. Problems to be addressed in the present study include: 1. Biological pathways by which plutonium and other radioactive materials could be transported through the food chain to man. EPA will conduct seabed, midwater, and surface trawls to identify potential food chain organisms in the site. 2. Physical transport mechanisms by which radioactive materials could be moved. EPA will put a series of meters around the site to determine both the speed and direction of water current and whether the currents would be strong enough to move contaminated sediments. 3. Extent to which sediment might trap and immobilize radioactive materials released from the drums. EPA will conduct precise coring operations using the manned submersible in a 360-degree sector around the two drums selected for recovery to determine the radionuclide concentration at measured distances from the drums. In addition, a sediment basin near the Pioneer Seamount (a nearby underwater mountain) will be examined to evaluate this area both as a sediment trap and as a sediment barrier to prevent movement of released radioactive materials. 4. Resistance to corrosion and degradation of packaging materials over long periods of immersion in the deepsea. EPA will retrieve the radioactive waste drums to determine the metal corrosion rate and concrete degradation and leach rates. The results of this West Coast assessment survey will provide an important step towards determining the fate of released radioactive materials disposed in the past, and will assist in defining the problems that must be resolved before any future disposal of radioactive wastes could occur. [From Woods Hole Notes, vol. 8, No. 3, October 1976] ALVIN PARTICIPATES IN RETRIEVAL OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE CONTAINER Alvin participated this summer in a study that reflects the growing environmental and energy concerns about nuclear wastes. The sub facilitated the recovery for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a low-level radioactive waste con tainer that had lain in 2,800 meters (9,240 feet) of water for some 15 years. Robert Dyer, an oceanographer in the EPA Office of Radiation Programs, was Chief Scientist. Last year Alvin surveyed the dumpsite, a disused munitions dumping area some 120 miles east of the Maryland-Delaware border. Analysis of samples taken then showed that, although there were traces of cesium-137 there, the area was a safe place to work. About 14,000 drums of such radioactive materials as wiping cloths, coveralls, and dead experimental animals had been dumped in the area between 1946 and 1970. Dyer had chosen a particular container for recovery from photographs he had taken last year from Alvin. (Some 4,500 photographs taken by surface-towed cameras in 1961 for the Atomic Energy Commission located no containers, although about 10,000 had been dumped by then.) Cliff Winget, Research Specialist in the Deep Submergence Engineering Operations group, was in charge of engineering design for the recovery project. It wasn't clear from the design records on the 80-gallon disposal drums what their end strength might be, so a bridle was designed by Winget and Research Associate Barrie Walden to fall net-fashion over the concrete-filled metal drum and distribute the lifting weight. Alvin's mission was to locate the container, secure the bridle, and then attach a tie line from the bridle to a lift line so the container could be taken aboard escort vessel Cape Henlopen (University of Delaware) for delivery to Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. Using Loran C navigation, the site of last year's investigations was quickly found, and then Alvin's precise transponder navigation net, developed by Research Specialist Skip Marquet, was set for the rest of the operation. Alvin found the chosen drum within an hour (and discovered her own tracks from last year, as well). The lift line was equipped with a transponder so Henlopen could be navigated by radio from Lulu to within 100 meters (330 feet) of Alvin and the drum. All hands wore radiation detector film badges during the operations, and the sub was carefully monitored before and after the dives by a health physicist from EPA's Eastern Environmental Radiation Facility. No dangerous radiation was detected at any time. Ďyer described the urgency of this work in a recent paper which said, "With increased competing demands for a decreasing amount of available land, several nations are looking towards the oceans to solve their low-level_radioactive waste disposal problem." Dyer is in contact with nuclear scientists and officials in many other countries and Dr. Akahito Ito of the Japanese Atomic Energy Research Institute was a participant on this cruise and made one dive. THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION LOW LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM September 1977 Manuscript Completed: September 1977 Division of Fuel Cycle and Material Safety THE NRC LOW-LEVEL WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM INTRODUCTION Since its inception nearly two years ago, the NRC has recognized that the safe management of nuclear waste is one of the pivotal issues affecting the future role of nuclear power. We also recognize that this is a common objective of the several Federal agencies having jurisdictional or programmatic interests in nuclear waste management. While NRC responsibilities are in the area of regulation, we are working closely with other agencies in scoping and scheduling activities to provide a sound overall national program for managing nuclear wastes. The Commission's overall nuclear waste management program has been described previously. This paper focuses on the NRC program for management of low-level radioactive wastes which are disposed of in commercial burial grounds. Preliminary schedules and critical inter-relationships for the elements of the NRC low-level waste program are shown in Figures E-1 through E-5. The program elements can be assigned to seven categories which are discussed in the sections below: general program and policy development development of analytical models and staff review procedures development of regulatory guides 33-546-78-23 The program elements are shown only in sufficient detail in the figures to provide an overview of the program. These efforts will provide the necessary tools for applicants to prepare license applications and for NRC to evaluate the submission and make uniform and timely licensing decisions. GENERAL PROGRAM AND POLICY ELEMENTS The schedule for development of the general elements of the low-level waste management program is outlined in Figure E-1. The principal activities in the general program are described below. Acceptable Risk Two studies are presently underway to attempt to quantify acceptable risk for accidental releases from nuclear waste management operations. The studies are designed to lead to development of acceptable risk criteria which can be used to formulate regulations and/or policy statements governing disposal of nuclear wastes. Lawrence Livermore Laboratories (LLL) will coordinate their activities with the National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP) study and with EPA's program for developing General Environmental Radiation Standards. LLL will report their findings to the NRC along with a technical basis for any recommendations in late 1977. |