Radioecology of the deep-sea

The activity released from sea-dumped containers is absorbed by the organism of the benthos and may therefore reach the surface very much faster than it should be expected by vertical diffusion or by currents alone. The density of the biological diffusion or by currents alone. The density of the biomass has a maximum near the surface but increases again, according to recent assumptions, directly above the sea-floor resulting in the occurrence of a bottle neck in the distribution between 2000 m and 4000 m of depth. The width of this bottle neck might essentially contribute to the vertical transport. Our knowledge of the conditions in the deep sea is so sparse that quantitative statements on the vertical transport benthos-surface must be regarded as speculations. The different methods of waste disposal (sea-dumping of low- and intermediate-level wastes, and burying of high-level wastes in the sea ground) have got in common the radiation exposute of the abyssal organisms. Their sensitivity to radiation is unknown, and therefore also the disturbance which may be imposed on the abyssal ecosystem. Thus further international research activities on the subject of deep-sea radioecology are necessary before these methods of waste disposal may be considered as save. (orig.)