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The transportation of radioactive waste solutions is expensive since 
carriers must be shielded with many inches of lead. Carriers weigh almost 
as much empty as when full. 
Current Disposition of Radioactive Wastes 
Radioactive wastes are stored in large tanks for indefinite periods 
of time. Only relatively small quantities of fission product activity have 
been released to ground or to ground waters. Experimental dumping of three 
to five year old liquid wastes has been in progress at Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory for approximately two years. However, no feasible method for 
"ultimate" disposal of large quantities of liquid wastes has been practiced 
or proposed, long term storage of wastes in carefully constructed and 
monitored waste tanks is the current practice. Storage costs, in tank in- 
vestment alone, are approximately $1.00 to $2.00 per gallon. 
Proposal for Less Expensive Storage Pit 
The high cost of waste storage and the lack of a cheap, safe solution to 
waste disposal, other than storage, has spurred development work on perfecting 
cheaper storage methods. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we are experimenting 
with earth pits lined with an impermeable material such as asphalt. It is 
proposed to fill such a pit with sand to a depth of approximately 30 ft, then 
to fill the pit approximately half full of liquid waste. Because of radioactive 
decay heat, the liquid wastes will boil, releasing steam through approximately 
15 ft of sand filter to the air. The sand above the boiling liquid waste will 
act as a shield and will prevent entrainment of particulates during self- 
concentration. Obviously such a storage pit would be located in a restricted 
access area and possibly would require a rain deflector roof. Costs for 
storage in such a pit, assuming that a satisfactory liner can be developed 
and that boiling liquids can be maintained many feet below the surface of 
the sand, have been estimated to be about $0.15 per gallon of liquid wastes. 
The feasibility of this type of pit storage and its hazard potential will 
DECLASSIFIED 
