Removal of Radioisotopes from Waste
Solutions by Soils—Soil Studies
With Conasauga Shale
T. W. BROCKETT, JR-, and O. R. PLACAK
Chemist and Senior Scientist
Health Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
The ultimate disposal of radioactive waste materials is a major problem. With the vast increase in the use of radioactive isotopes by hospitals, universities and certain industrial concerns, the problem is no
longer peculiar to relatively small areas but is now nation-wide in scope
since these materials are being used in every state in the union. Consequently, disposal methods free of future hazardous developments must
be the goal for those concerned with the safe disposal of these wastes.
For ages past, unwanted materials, objects, and wastes have been
eliminated by burial in the earth, and this is, perhaps, one of the means
of disposal of radioactive wastes that readily presents itself when one
considers the problem. There are attending evils to such a method since
the ultimate fate of the radioactive elements cannot be ascertained due
to the possibility of the migration of the radioactive materials or the
development of channels which might lead to contamination of ground
waters.
If, by a study of the geological conditions of an area, a certain site
could be located where little or no migration of the radioactive constituents of the wastes could occur underground, then this place would
be an ideal burial ground for these contaminants.
A survey of the geological conditions of the Oak Ridge area was
conducted by the Oak Ridge office of the Atomic Energy Commission
and from the information gathered, a site was chosen for the construction of experimental pits for storage of liquid chemical wastes containing radioactive materials. This site consists of a large acreage of
comparatively flat topography made up of soft and well-weathered shale
underlain by a deep formation of shale of the Conasauga group.   In-
The work reported in this document was performed for the Atomic Energy
Commission at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a part of the cooperative
research program of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the U. S. Public
Health Service.
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