83. 



yield potable waters. Another producing horizon is the Sylvania 

 limestone at a depth of 5,000 feet; 40 feet of the limestone has 10 

 percent porosity and the remaining 80 feet is very dense. The 

 bromine -bearing brine is pumped out and waste brine pumped back 

 at a rate of 350 gallons per minute; it took 30 years for the activ- 

 ities at one well to affect those at another well one and one -quarter 

 miles away. Brines are also extracted from a deep bed of salt. 

 The salt is dissolved by circulating water; after a cavern estimated 

 to be 750 to 800 feet in size is formed, there is a strong likelihood 

 that the roof will fracture and brines -will be drained in from over- 

 lying beds . 



3. Salient points of the general discussion. 



Specific gravity of radioactive wastes ranges from 1.1 to 1.3, 

 and the more general types are about 1.20-1.25. (Lindsey) 



A bed of sedimentary rock having the depth and structural con- 

 figuration deemed acceptable for waste storage is very likely to be 

 below the zone of potable water --to be filled with brine -- the 

 flow of deep waters (whether potable or salty) is probably very 

 slow -- diffusion is probably slow. All these characteristics need 

 to be determined before waste is injected into a particular horizon. 



Heat derived from fission in the waste can be dissipated by dilu- 

 tion. The volume of waste is small enough so that dilution ratios 

 ranging from 1:1 to 1,000:1 are feasible. 



The boiling point for the given solution at the storage depth 

 should not be exceeded so as to avoid fracturing the roof. 



Heating would be local and the rate of brine circulation would 

 be accelerated, thereby dissipating the heat -- a self-defeating 

 cycle. The gentle evolution of vapor would also speed up the trans- 

 fer of heat. 



Permeability of a storage bed can be increased by standard 

 operating procedures of the oil fields, e.g. , fracturing and sand 

 injection. The contact surface between "aquifer" and waste solu- 

 tion can be enormously increased, and plugged well-bottoms re- 

 opened by this means. 



Pressures used in fracturing are commonly less than that due 

 to the weight of the overburden, so that it seems hardly possible, 



