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Publication Laka-library:
A History of Ocean Disposal of Packaged Low-Level Radioactive Waste (1982)

Author	W.F.Holcomb
Date	February 1982
Classification	6.01.5.52/22 (WASTE - SEA DUMPING (INCL. OSPAR))
Front

A History of Ocean Disposal of Packaged Low-Level Radioactive Waste

By W. F. Holcomb*

Abstract: Two methods are practiced throughout the world for the disposal of
low-level radioactive wastes-ground burial and ocean dumping. Ocean dumping
was used by the United States from 1946 to 1970; European nations have been ocean
dumping since 1951, with the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development supervising the international ocean dumping
operations since 1967. The European nations have dumped wastes containing over
700 000 Ci of radioactivity, whereas the United States has dumped wastes containing
over 94 000 Ci. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has surveyed some of
the U.S. ocean dump sites and retrieved three drums of waste to assess the condition
of the radioactive waste packaging. The NEA has published guidelines for packaging
requirements for ocean disposal, and the EPA has a program to prepare regulations
to complement the existing international and domestic broad-based regulations for
packaging of radioactive wastes for ocean disposal.

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