industrial radioactive waste disposal held by the Special Subcommittee 

 on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the 

 United States, 27 January to 3 February, 1959. These data also have 

 been utilized by this working panel. 



The major source of potential liquid waste is the primary coolant. 

 For the SAVANNAH, =1= after 50 days of operation during which a single 

 ion exchange bed has been utilized for by-pass clean-up, and assuming 

 1530 grams of exposed fuel, it is estimated that the concentration of ac- 

 tivity of the significant isotopes in the primary coolant will be about 



8 X 10°2 |ic/ml, of which the greatest amount will be Cr 51, Co 60, Fe 

 55, and Ta 18Z. Strontium 90 is estimated to have a concentration in 

 the primary coolant water of 1.4 x 10"^ lic/ml. 



The expansion volume during reactor warm-up is estimated to 

 amount to 2 90 ft3, or 8.2 x 10^ ml. Thus during each warm-up a total 

 release of about 6.8 x 10"! curies would occur. Cr 51 would contribute 

 about 0.4 curies, while Co 60, Fe 55 and Ta 182 would contribute about 

 0.1 curie each, and Sr 90 would contribute about 1 x 10"" curies per 

 warm-up to the potential liquid effluent. Leakage and other minor 

 sources of liquid waste might contribute 100 gals/day, or 3.8 x 105 ml, 

 of liquid effluent of about the same activity as the v/arm-up water. This 

 would be equivalent to a total activity per day of 3.0 x 10"^ curies. 



Assuming that each vessel had an average of two warm-ups per 

 month, the total potential activity in the liquid wastes from one ship 

 during one year's operation would be l6 curies from warm-up and 11 

 curies from leakage and other minor sources. 



The ion exchange resins used in the by-pass clean-up of the pri- 

 mary coolant would contain far greater activity than that present in the 

 primary coolant itself. It is estimated that in the present merchant 

 ship design these resins, after 50 days of operation, would contain a 

 total activity of about 400 curies, with Cr 51, Ta 182, Co 60, and Fe 55 

 each contributing about 100 curies. Assuming a change of resin every 

 50 days, the total activity released per ship per year from this source 

 would be 2900 curies. 



It is estimated in a later section of this report that 300 nuclear- 

 powered ships of all nations will be in service by 1975. These 300 ships 

 would then potentially release to the marine environment approximately 

 2500 curies per year from expansion water, some 3400 curies per year 

 from leakage and other minor sources of liquid wastes, and some 



9 X 10^ curies per year from the ion exchange beds. 



"Since completion of this report, subsequent re-evaluation of the probable character and activity 

 of the primary coolant and the ion exchange resins has been issued by the Oak Ridge National 

 Laboratory (1959)- While this ORNL report includes somewhat different values for the activity 

 in these potential wastes, the general conclusions arrived at here remain unchanged. 



