Comprehensive Baseline Environmental Monitoring of an Interim Legacy Waste Store in Arid Zone Australia - 20062

Conference · Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020

OSTI ID:23030350

Mallants, Dirk ^[1]; McLachlan, Gordon ^[2]; Viscarra Rossel, Raphael ^[3]; Werczynski, Sylvester ^[4]

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1. CSIRO Land and Water, Waite Road - Gate 4, Glen Osmond, SA 5064 (Australia)
2. CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT 2601 (Australia)
3. Soil and Landscape Science, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley WA 6102 (Australia)
4. ANSTO, New Illawarra Rd, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234 (Australia)

Radionuclide containing soil and rubble from the clean-up of a former uranium, thorium and rare earth minerals processing research facility carried out in the early 50's and 60's is currently stored at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia awaiting final disposal. Prior to developing a final disposal pathway commensurate with waste acceptance criteria, a comprehensive baseline environmental monitoring has been carried out to establish the background radiation levels. The survey included in situ gamma scanning of the surface soil ({sup 238}U, {sup 232}Th, {sup 40}K), a laboratory analysis of 86 soil samples (from 0-20 cm depth), which involved XRF measurements (U, Th, and rare earth metals) and spectroscopic analysis ({sup 238}U, {sup 232}Th, {sup 226}Ra and daughter nuclides). A time series of radon concentration measurements in air was established, while soil radon ({sup 222}Rn) and thoron ({sup 220}Rn) flux measurements were undertaken at 18 different locations. The 2018 comprehensive baseline survey demonstrated radiation levels in the immediate vicinity of the Woomera interim waste store are typical background values of soil and rock. No contamination was detected. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 23030350
• Report Number(s): INIS-US-21-WM-20062; TRN: US21V1665070702
• Resource Relation: Conference: WM2020: 46. Annual Waste Management Conference, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 8-12 Mar 2020; Other Information: Country of input: France; 8 refs.; available online at: https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2020/index.html
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BACKGROUND RADIATION
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
MINERALS
MONITORING
POTASSIUM 40
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIUM 226
RADON
RADON 220
RADON 222
RARE EARTHS
SOILS
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
SURFACE CONTAMINATION
THORIUM
THORIUM 232
URANIUM
URANIUM 238
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS