35. 



that by 1980 there would be 175,000 megawatts of electrical energy- 

 produced by nuclear fission. There are other estimates based on 

 other assumptions. The basic data for calculation given in the 

 "graybook", prepared by the Hopkins group, are probably as good as 

 we can get. Obviously, the quantities change as processes change, 

 but from what we now know, it looks as though we have to consider 

 the fission product wastes of the immediate future with activity con- 

 centrations ranging in the hundreds of curies per gallon. The heat 

 content is of the order of 1 to 3 BTU's per gallon-hour. In Idaho 

 there are waste tanks where, roughly, 100,000 gallons of high level 

 wastes are stored, and a cooling system must be provided capable of 

 removing something like 300,000 BTU's per hour. That is just for 

 the first tank. If we can't do anything else with these wastes, we have 

 to plan for the time when we may have to build additional tanks to con- 

 tain wastes that will continue to be produced. 



We are still building tanks, and as far as anyone can see, more 

 will have to be built. These tanks are physical structures and have a 

 finite life. A tank manufacturer may guarantee the integrity of the 

 tank for ten years, maybe twenty, maybe fifty years but there is a 

 limit and things can go wrong. If -we put these fission products in a 

 tank and since they have an effective half -life reckoned in terms of 

 hundreds of years, we or the people that come after us have to be con- 

 cerned about that tank and its environment for a long time. In other 

 words, as presently practiced, tank storage of high-level wastes is 

 not actually disposing of these materials. 



As sanitary engineers familiar with experiences in other indus- 

 tries, we know that things don't always go the way the flow sheets in- 

 dicate they should. Day-to-day operations of a plant are sometimes 

 affected by practices that do not enter into consideration of the labora- 

 tory procedures. It is not a case of anything being overlooked; it is 

 merely that many steps and stages do not exist in the laboratory that 

 are essential parts of industrial operation. 



One thing that should be emphasized has to do with the utiliza- 

 tion of the fission products. I think it is worth pointing out, that, to 

 my knowledge, there has been no practical fabrication of fission prod- 

 uct sources. Much has been and is being done in the laboratories by 

 many people on the effect of radiations on foods, in chemical reactions, 

 cold sterilization of antibiotics, and all sorts of possible uses; all 

 this work is extremely important. If we find ways of extracting and 

 utilizing radioactive cesium and strontium, we merely postpone the 

 date of disposal of these two fission products. After being used they 



