22. 



DR. KOHMAN: In other words, there are no such existing 

 rivers that flow underground in the sea against the more dense salt 

 water, but the idea is they would create one? 



DR. RENN: No, the implication was that these structures do 

 exist. For example, in the Chesapeake Bay we have artesian springs, 

 and the picture I get is that such inclined strata probably exist and 

 break through the sloping faces of the shelf. 



CHAIRMAN HESS: Are there any other questions? 



If not, Dr. Christy, of Hanford, will tell us some of the prob- 

 lems they have out there in waste disposal. 



I have to apologize to Dr. Christy. He did not know he was 

 coming to discuss these problems until a few days ago, and he didn't 

 know he was going to be a speaker until lunchtime . 



Dr. Joseph T. Christy, 

 Hanford. 



DR. JOSEPH T. CHRISTY: Hanford is the name of an Atomic 

 Energy Commission site in the northwestern part of this country, on 

 the Columbia River in southeastern "Washington. A schematic break- 

 down of the operations will permit the presentation of a generalized 

 view of the plants, within the limitations of security classifications. 



The Columbia River forms one boundary of our site, and the 

 reactors are along the river. The major radioactive waste problem 

 at Hanford does not involve the waters of the Columbia River which 

 is tapped for flow through the reactors, and is returned to the river 

 to dissipate heat generated in the reactor. The radioactivity is negli- 

 gible because the water is not recirculated and there is no concentra- 

 tion of activity; furthermore, there is no significant contamination by 

 fuel elements from rupture. The major waste problems are in the 

 chemical separations plants. 



Early Hanford consisted of reactors and three major chemical 

 processing plants, of which only two were operated initially. A 

 fourth plant was not completed except for waste tanks, and the third 

 plant became a stand-by. At each one of these plants, separate stor- 

 age facilities were provided for many thousands of gallons of waste. 

 Essentially all of the waste from the initial plants was stored, because 



