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Science 18 September 1981:
Vol. 213. no. 4514, pp. 1321 - 1326
DOI: 10.1126/science.213.4514.1321
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Articles

Subseabed Disposal of Nuclear Wastes

Charles D. Hollister 1, D. Richard Anderson 2, and G. Ross Health 3

1 Dean of Graduate Studies and Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543
2 Manager of the Subseabed Disposal Program, Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
3 Professor and Dean of the School of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331

Fine-grained clay formations within stable (predictable) deep-sea regions away from lithospheric plate boundaries and productive surface waters have properties that might serve to permanently isolate radioactive waste. The most important characteristics of such clays are their vertical and lateral unifomity, low permeability, very high cation retention capacity, and potential for self-healing when disturbed. The most attractive abyssal clay formation (oxidized red ciay)covers nearly 30 percent of the sea floor and hence 20 percent of the earth's surface.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Charles Davis Hollister, 1936-1999 A personal scientific appreciation of the father of 'contourites'.
I. N. McCave (2002)
Geological Society, London, Memoirs 22, 1-5
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Evidence of high natural radiation doses in certain mid-water oceanic organisms.
R. Cherry and M Heyraud (1982)
Science 218, 54-56
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