94. 



Death Valley is an active seismic area. There has 

 been a movement of about 350 feet in front of the Funeral 

 Range in the last thousand years. 



Granite quarries seem to be open to the objection that 

 you never know whether it is actually tight. 



How about grouting granite? 



No grouting or facing job is perfect. If grouting were 

 the factor on which we were going to rely, I'd hate to be 

 the one to approve it. I have had lots of experience and 

 have no faith in it, beyond its specific capabilities. 

 (Prescott) 



Chairman: Is the consensus on crystalline rock quarries 

 that the wastes should be self- sealing or immobilized? 



If grouting isn't satisfactory, how can you rely on self- 

 sealing as satisfactory? (Prescott) 



Consensus: Self- sealing and grouting are unreliable, and 

 granite quarries would be acceptable only if the waste is 

 permanently immobilized. 



B. Excavations in permeable non-crystalline rocks such as sand- 

 stone, limestone, coal, etc. These sites appear to have all 

 the disadvantages of granite quarries in a magnified form. It 

 would be virtually impossible to seal them so that liquid 

 wastes would not contaminate ground water supplies. They 

 are not worth considering unless the waste can be permanently 

 immobilized in a solid form. 



C. Excavations in non-permeable materials -- clays and shales. 



(1) Shale pits appear to have all the advantages of granite 

 quarries plus the possibility that they might be made 

 "tight" more easily by self-sealing, adsorption, etc. It 

 was also suggested that a non- radioactive sealing mate- 

 rial might be found for clay or shale, thus producing a 

 membrane or lining for the pit. 



(2) Hazards and Problems. All rocks, including shales, are 

 so variable that it would be difficult to guarantee the 



