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Radioactive Waste Disposal Into Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Waters; a Report From a Working Group of the Committee on Oceanography of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (1959) / Chapter Skim
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The Present Problem
Pages 11-15

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From page 11...
... The second science field is oceanography, which can supply a description of the processes that can bring radioactive substances from a marine disposal area back to man. We emphasize here that the very nature of the primary information upon which our evaluation is based makes the division between safe and unsafe disposal procedures a rather broad region rather than a sharp dividing line.
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From page 12...
... Our assessment of the quantities and the rates of disposal of low level radioactive wastes into in-shore water that will create a potential hazard to man, through his uses of the sea and marine products, developed from consideration of the natural processes occurring in the marine environment that could bring the radioactive wastes back to man from suggested disposal sites. We have recognized two mechanisms that appear to be the most likely avenues through which this could occur.
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From page 13...
... The significance of the quantities of isotopes relative to strontium90 is apparent when considering the practical problem of the disposal of packages containing a mixture of isotopes. Assume, for example, that packages containing waste of the following composition have been added TABLE II QUANTITIES OF SELECTED RADIOISOTOPES EQUIVALENT1 TO 250 CURIES OF STRONTIUM 90, SHOWING THE INITIAL QUANTITIES THAT WILL DECAY TO 250 EQUIVALENT CURIES ALLOWING ONE MONTH AND ONE YEAR CONTAINME NT Isotope Curies no containment 1 mo.
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From page 14...
... . The factor of safety introduced by ten year containment is shown in Table III, in which the percents of the initial activity remaining after ten years and the maximum permissible concentrations for drinking water are listed for a group of isotopes including high yield, long-lived fission products and the isotopes that are shipped from Oak Ridge National Laboratories to licensed users.
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From page 15...
... beyond the life of the steel drum. On the other hand, experiments designed to test the effect of hydrostatic pressure on disposal containers, indicated that voids in concrete may, at depths of a few hundred to a thousand meters, permit implosion of the steel drum and fracture of the concrete, thereby bringing about premature release of contaminant to the sea.
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Key Terms

  • potential hazard
  • maximum permissible
  • permissible concentrations
  • drinking water
  • marine food

  • radioactive wastes
  • coastal waters
  • mpc values
  • food products
  • permissible sea

  • disposal procedures
  • below permissible
  • steel drum
  • immediate environment
  • water concentration

  • table iii
  • disposal sites
  • radiation received
  • human environment
  • initial activity

  • activity remaining
  • sea disposal
  • suggested maximum
  • hazardous sea
  • missible sea

  • disposal practices
  • permissible amounts
  • potential hazards
  • believe disposal
  • permissible levels


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