57. 



airborne radioactivity during the evaporation and fusion processes, 

 it may be feasible to use river sand as an entrainment bed and shield. 

 It may be possible to sinter the dried mass into a ceramic body, from 

 which, we hope, the radioisotopes will not escape. There may be 

 enough heat generated in the residue to bring about self-fusion or self- 

 sintering but ceramists and others feel that the amount of heat energy 

 available is on its borderline. It might be necessary to use a calcin- 

 ing or sintering machine. It is important to keep the sintering temper- 

 ature low in order to minimize the volatilization of the radio isotopes. 

 Something like twelve or fifteen clay flux mixtures containing synthetic 

 waste and tracers were prepared by Dr. McVay. One mixture con- 

 sisted of the following: 250 milliliters of acid waste solution, 30 grams 

 of soda ash, 30 grams of about 200-mesh limestone, and 100 grams of 

 16-mesh calcareous shale from the Volunteer Cement Co. 



The mixture sinters at 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit; after 50 days, 

 leach tests in tap and salt water showed that only Cesium 137 is 

 leached. This was unusual in our experience, because the wastes in 

 the present pits contain cesium, ruthenium, and strontium, but only 

 ruthenium has moved through the shale. 



DR. GRIGGS: You listed a group of critical nuclides that you 

 are going to get rid of but you include one of them in your tests of 

 fusion fixation? 



MR. STRUXNESS: The idealized concept supposes that cesium 

 will be removed from the waste, but Dr. McVay is including Cesium 

 in his synthetic wastes because the cesium separation process has not 

 been worked out. 



CHAIRMAN HESS: We will have to limit the questions because 

 the Steering Committee has to work after this meeting. I propose that 

 we have the questions the first thing in the morning. 



MR. STRUXNESS: Would you like for me to continue? I am 

 afraid I have a half-hour more. 



CHAIRMAN HESS: We don't want to rush. I think we will close 

 this session now and start off at this point at nine o'clock tomorrow 



. . . The meeting adjourned at 10:15 o'clock 



