Unlike the disposal of any other type of waste, the hazard 

 related to radioactive waste is so great that no element of doubt 

 should be allowed to exist regarding safety. Stringent rules must 

 be set up and a system of inspection and monitoring instituted. Safe 

 disposal means that the waste shall not come in contact with any liv- 

 ing thing. Considering half-lives of the isotopes in waste this means 

 for 600 years if Cs and Sr are present or for about one-tenth 



as many years if these two isotopes are removed. 



The Committee has heard a number of descriptions of the 

 waste disposal operations at Hartford and Oak Ridge and several com- 

 mittee members have visited the Oak Ridge Installation. Some ques- 

 tions exist at this time in the minds of most members concerning the 

 long-term safety of waste disposal as practiced on these sites if con- 

 tinued for the indefinite future. A great deal of work has been done 

 at each of them by competent men, but it is not possible to say ex- 

 actly what may happen to the waste and how its component elements 

 may disperse. The above statements should in no sense be regarded 

 as criticism of officials responsible for the operation of these instal- 

 lations . They were constructed during the exigencies of a war so 

 that plant location with respect to waste disposal could not be an 

 over-riding consideration. They are in isolated localities far from 

 population centers so that the hazard has been minimized in this re- 

 spect, and in addition, continuing control is being maintained by the 

 operators . 



The Committee is convinced that radioactive waste can be 

 disposed of safely in a variety of ways and at a large number of 

 sites in the United States. It may require several years of research 

 and pilot testing before the first such disposal system can be put 

 into operation. Until such time storage in tanks will be required for 

 waste . 



The cost of safe waste disposal will probably be relatively 

 high until a great deal of research has been done and experience 

 gained. Transportation costs have to be added to over-all disposal 

 costs. For this reason site selection for any chemical processing 

 plant where large quantities of highly radioactive waste will be pro- 

 duced, must be based on availability of a disposal area within eco- 

 nomic transportation distance. Economic balance will exist between 

 length of cooling time in tanks at the site of waste production vs. 

 cost of transportation in shielded carriers -- the thickness of the 

 shielding required being dependent on cooling time. 



