ML20151Q770

Informs That NRC Decided That Only Option Consistent W/Position Is to Delete Second Paragraph of Proposed Draft Ltr from Chairman to Congressman Ashley Re Comments on HR 8119

ML20151Q770
Person / Time
Issue date:	11/19/1980
From:	Martin J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	Jennifer Davis NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
References
TASK-TF, TASK-URFO NUDOCS 9808250310
Download: ML20151Q770 (6)

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NOV 101980 MEMORANDUM FOR: John G. Davis, Director Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards FROM:

John B. Martin, Director Division of Waste Management

SUBJECT:

COMMENTS ON H.R.'8119 Per your note of November 14, 1980, we have reviewed the options for commenting on the bill in the note from the Office of the Secretary to Tom Rehm. Accordingly, we have decided that the only option consistent with our position is to delete the second paragraph of the proposed draft letter from the Chainnan to Congressman Ashley. The amended draft with the language deleted is appended to this memorandum.

b The staff does not believe that the development of concentration limits r

would be an advisable approach to a definition of the wastes that should

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be studied under this bill. As set forth in H.R. 8119, the purpose of the

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. study is to determine the effect, if any, of the ocean disposal of radioactive waste from 1946 through 1970 on benthic and other marine life and on human health through the contamination of marine life in the food chain.

The bill would circumscribe this study, however, by limiting it to high-level wastes, to all other radioactive wastes disposed of during this period at depths less than 6,000 feet, and to all authorized or unauthorized disposal sites in ocean waters adjacent to.the State of California. The 6,000-foot cut-off.alone, for example, would preclude a study of the two sites that received 96 percent of the radioactivity and 85 percent of the containers disposed of in the Atlantic Ocean during this period.

To assure a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of the impacts of past ocean disposal on marine life and human health, the staff is convinced that the Secretary of Commerce should have the flexibility to consider other factors that may be of equal or greater importance than those provided O

in the bill. Such factors might include the half-life quantity and biological

'd effects of the radioisotopes disposed of at a particular site, the chemical reactivity of these isotopes with other wastes or substances at the site that might enhance the likelihood of adverse biological effects, the strength and prevailing direction of currents at the site, its proximity to areas of significant biological productivity, and the cumulative import of all these and any other factors that the Secretary, in consultation with the Nuclear Regulatory Conmission, Department of Energy, and Environmental Protection Agency may consider relevant to the purposes of the study.

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Accordingly,thestaffhas. drafted'asecondDproposed response"for the cc Chainnan ;s consideration authorizing'the_ Secretary to take'_a ; broader range ofL. factors into" account'and report to Congress.on the proposed scope of the

study before. it11s' begun, so1that Congress would have--an opportunity to;

weighTits costs. andflikely contributions ~ to'an: adequate understanding of thel f

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problem. 'Thisfreport would befin addition to the report-to Congress

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John B. Martin, Director Division of Waste Management.

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PROPOSED RESPONSE #1 The Honorable' Thomas L. Ashley Acting Chairman Committee on-Merchant Marine & ~

Fisheries.

United States House of Representatives

.. Washington, DC.20515.

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Dear Mr. Chairman:

J This is in response to the Committee's request for the Nuclear Regulatory

. Commission's (NRC) _ views of H.R. 8119, a bill to require the Secretary of

Commerce to undertake a study to. determine the effects.of certain past

.O ocean dumping of radioactive wastes.

Section-203(f)(2) would direct the Secretary-to review all records of the ocean disposal of radioactive waste.

. The NRC will be glad to assist the Secretary's review of_old records related-to ocean disposal licensed by our predecessor agency, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).- Those records are not complete, however, because the

.. Department of Energy. (DOE) possesses the records of ocean disposal by unlicensed AEC contractors. Accordingly, the NRC recommends that Section 203(f)(2) be amended to include D0E.

O Thank you for this opportunity to provide the Commission's views on this matter.

Sincerely, John F. Ahearne Chairman

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PROPOSED RESPONSE #2 H

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The Honorable Thomas L. Ashley l

Acting Chairman Committee on Merchant Marine &

Fisheries United States House of Representatives Washingto.n, DC 20515

Dear Mr.. Chairman:

This is in response to the Committee's request for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) views of H.R. 8119, a bill to require the Secretary of Commerce to undertake a study to determine the effects of certain past

! O oceen dumPias of redioective westes. Section 203cf>c2) would direct the l

l Secretary to review all records of the ocean disposal of radioactive waste.

1 The NRC will be glad to assist the Secretary's review of old records related l

to ocean disposal licensed by our predecessor agency, the Atomic Energy l

Commission (AEC).

Those records are not complete, however, because the Department of Energy (DOE) possesses the records of ocean disposal by unlicensed AEC contractors. Accordingly, the NRC recommends that Section 203(f)(2)beamendedtoincludeDOE.

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l Considering that the purpose of the study is to determine the effects

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of past ocean dumping of radioactive waste on benthic and other marine life, and on human health through the contamination of marine life in the food chain, NRC would suggest that the bill may hamper the fulfillment of.

this purpose by unnecessarily circumscribing the study.

The 6,000-foot depth limit on the study of non-high-level radioactive waste dumpings, for example, could well preclude an examination of the two sites that received i

96 percent of the radioactivity and 85 percent of the containers disposed of in the Atlantic Ocean during the period between 1946 and 1970, according to our records of past disposal activities.

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The Honorable Thomas L. Ashley '-

To assure a more accurate and, comprehensive assessment of the impacts of these activities, NRC believes that the Secretary, after consultation with the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the' NRC, should have the flexibility to consider other factors beyond those provided in the bill for defining the scope of the study. Such factors may include the half-life, quantity, and biological effects of the radioisotopes disposed of at each recorded site, the chemical reactivity of these isotopes with other wastes or natural substances at the site that might enhance the likelihood of adverse biological effects, the average speed and direction of prevailing currents at the site, its proximity to areas of significant

'. biological productivity, and any other factors the Secretary may consider relevant for the purposes of this bill.

Before undertaking the study, the Secretary should be required to inform the Congress of its scope, duration, and estimated costs, and the considerations under which they were determined.

Congress would then have an opportunity in the light of currently available information to weigh the costs of the study, the significance of the C) k' disposal areas it proposes to examine, and its like'; contributions to an adequate understanding of the biological effects of past ocean dumping at the sites most worthy of concern. This infonnation would, of course, be in addition to the report to' Congress already required by the bill upon completion of the findings and recommendations arising from the study, i

Thank you for this opportunity to provide the Commission's views on these matters.

L Sincerely, J

l John F. Ahearne Chairman

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_. uCCUMENT DATE NECE1VED JE D ATE REV4 SED DUE D A 4

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• LETION D AT E'twf00L NUMBER 11 14 80 11.14 00 11 19'80 C01423.,,1 -

OFFICE ASSIGNED N AME OF ORIGIN ATOR AND OFFICE kN Dayfs JG MSS-

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REFER'R ED 70.

DESCRIFTION Coments on H.R. 8119 TR AN5f FlON TYPE (Code Option)

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' 1. Add new items

2. Delete items 3

3. Change item date' REMARKS

4. Update item status (close out)

5. Revised due date t

E. Correct item status '

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