A history of ocean disposal of packaged low-level radioactive waste
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.
- Research Organization:
- National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
- OSTI ID:
- 6972615
- Journal Information:
- Nucl. Saf.; (United States), Vol. 23:2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
PACKAGING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
INTERNATIONAL LAWS
MARINE DISPOSAL
PACKAGING RULES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
LICENSING
NEA
RADIOACTIVITY
US EPA
DATA
INFORMATION
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
LAWS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUMERICAL DATA
OECD
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REGULATIONS
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage