Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas ... - IMO

Chapter 2
Notes to pp. 21–24 199
1. Among non-ionizing types of radiation are microwave, ultraviolet, laser, and
radio-frequency radiations.
2. For a discussion, see Templeton and Preston 1982, pp. 79–80.
3. Regarding the choice between disposal or storage of radwaste, Preston (1983,
p. 108) writes: “Storage is expensive, and it may not in the long run offer any better
chance than does prompt disposal in optimizing the choice between cost of protection
from radiation and the value of the radiation detriment thus avoided.
Storage is thus, except in a very few cases, no substitute for disposal, and disposal
should be the preferred management option as soon as it offers a reasonable chance
of optimizing with respect to the resulting radiation detriment.” See also Rochlin
1979, pp. 95–96.
4. At least two American and one Soviet nuclear-powered submarines have been
lost at sea, however. See National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere
1984, p. 5.
5. The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space
and Under Water of 1963, commonly known as the Limited Test Ban Treaty, has
been signed by more than 100 states, including all the major powers except France
and China. More than 2000 nuclear tests have been conducted around the world,
528 of them in the atmosphere. See Norris and Arkin 1998.
6. Bewers and Garrett (1987) add: “However, the mix of radioisotopes involved is
different in each case and radioisotopes vary widely in the extent to which they can
affect marine organisms and man, so that the total radioactivity is only a very rough
guide to the risk. It must also be stated that the dumping cannot be considered safe
just because the releases of radionuclides are small compared to the natural incidence
of radionuclides in the environment.”
7. One example is the de minimis risk approach, according to which a material may
not be regarded as radioactive and therefore may be considered “below regulatory
concern.” For a discussion, see Whipple 1986, pp. 44–60.
8. Half-life: the time required for the decay of half of the radioactivity in a radioactive
substance. Half-lives vary greatly; for example, iodine-131 has a half-life of 8
days, whereas plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years.
9. So far there are no permanent disposal facilities in the United States for highlevel
nuclear waste. In 1987 Congress directed the Department of Energy to determine
whether Yucca Mountain in Nevada would be suitable as a permanent
disposal facility for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
10. On the early history of this disposal option, see Deese 1978.
11. See Carter 1987, pp. 11–14. According to Carter, containment of tailings need
not create a major problem for a properly regulated industry. Others disagree; see,
e.g., Goble 1983, pp. 170–171.
12. The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act—P.L. (96–573), December 22,
1980—is quoted from p. 85 of Parker 1988.