Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, Oceanography and Fisheries - Chairman, Roger Revelle, Seripps Institute of Oceanography ~ - This group viewed the past record of this country with respect to pollution cf streams, waterways and harbors with ex- treme repugnance, They point out that 71% of the earth's surface is ocean and that eventually everything gets into the oceang, They note that the sea as compared to the land is relatively non-radioactive, Natural radioactivity of the seas is 1/100 that of ignecus rocks, As a result cf weapons tests they report the following: two days after Operation Castle was over in the spring of 1954 there was a millionfold increase in radioactivity of the surface waters near Bikini; that after fowr months 1500 miles away it was three times the normal amount and that at 13 months the area of surfese water contamination had spread over a million square miles, and that at a distance of 3500 milss from Bikini the “artificial” radicactivity was 1/5 the natural, They consluded that tc date there has probably been no damage to life in the sea exzept that at the test site proper, They call attention to conztentration of radioactivity by plant forms in the sea and warn repeatedly against indiscriminate dumping of radioactive wastes into the sea, They discuss the "flush- ing time" of the Black Sea 2500 years as compared with perhaps 100 or 200 years for the shelf=-deeps of the Atlantic and Caribbean, They stress they need to know much more about the ccean depths and their movements, (The International Geophysical Year has a very large-scale study of the depths planned for 1957-58), This com mittee would apparently permit "controlled" sea disposal especially of short-lived radioactive materials, They recommend that "Industrial agencies formulate conventions for the safe disposal of atomic. wastes at sea, based on existing knowledge." This would because of widespread low level contamination of the seas, may well be- true, Ree i COLLEGTIOS . Ww 7 The . f hea ey Ret Fae OA a OF SCENCES This wer iéem ss They further recommend collaborative studies of the oceans and their organisms and though a beginning has been made urge a greater effort, Finally, thay contend that in ten or twenty years certain radiotracer experiments will nct be possible . seem to be a very logical and necessary move, To date, except for small amounts of short-lived material, the U.S, has not dumped any radioactive wastes in the sea, We are still storing all process wastes in tarks, . NAS