given in Title 10, Chapter 1, Part 20, Code of Federal Regulations, Re- 

 vised 1959 (proposed) . 



POTENTIAL SOURCES OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES 



Of all the unwanted radioactive byproducts, or wastes, produced 

 in the operation of a nuclear reactor, the fission products comprise the 

 bulk. Under present and contemplated design, these fission products 

 would be contained largely in the spent fuel elements. Additional wastes 

 result from the induced activity of corrosion products in the primary 

 coolant, together with small amounts of fission products which may be 

 transferred to the primary coolant as a result of minor failures in the 

 cladding of the fuel elements. The amount of radioactive materials in 

 the primary coolant is maintained at relatively low levels by use of a 

 bypass purification system resulting in the accumulation on ion exchange 

 resins of corrosion product activity, and a considerably smaller 

 amount of fission product activity. 



The greater part of the fission products is removed from the 

 ship in the spent fuel elements at the time of refueling. The possible 

 ultimate fate of such high level w^astes is beyond the scope of this re- 

 port. It is, however, our basic assumption that these high level wastes 

 do not enter the marine environment through normal operation of a 

 nuclear-powered ship. Only in the case of a highly improbable maxi- 

 mum credible accident could any portion of these materials enter the 

 niarine environment. 



The potential sources of radioactive wastes which might be dis- 

 charged to the marine environment from nuclear-pov/ered ships are, 

 then: (a) the expansion volume of primary coolant during warm-up of 

 a pressurized water reactor; (b) operational leakage from various com- 

 ponents of the primary and auxiliary systems, and wastes from the lab- 

 oratory, from sampling, from equipment decontamination, and shower 

 and laundry wastes associated with the reactor plant; (c) ion exchange 

 resins which remove corrosion products from the primary coolant; 

 and (d) contaminated solid materials. 



AMOUNT AND COMPOSITION OF WASTES 



The amount and composition of radioactive wastes cannot be pre- 

 dicted accurately for all potential marine reactors. In order to have 

 some reasonable basis for evaluation, data for the proposed N.S. 

 SAVANNAH, obtained from the report of the Maritime Administration 

 entitled "Waste Disposal Considerations in the Nuclear-Powered 

 Merchant Ship Program" (January, 1959), have been employed as rep- 

 resentative of the composition and amount of "typical" potential radio- 

 active wastes from a nuclear-powered merchant ship. 



In addition, actual operating data from the nuclear-powered sub- 

 marine NAUTILUS have been made available in the report "Radioactive 

 Waste Disposal from U. S. Naval Nuclear-Powered Ships" (January, 

 1959) presented for inclusion in the record of the public hearings on 



