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Title: Potential airborne release from soil-working operations in a contaminated area

Abstract

Experiments were performed to provide an indication of how much material could be made airborne during soil-working operations in a contaminated area. Approximately 50 kg of contaminated soil were collected, dried, and mixed, and particle size distribution and /sup 137/Cs content were characterized. In four experiments performed in a 2 ft x 2 ft wind tunnel at the Radioactive Aerosol Release Test Facility, soil was pumped into an airstream moving at 3.2, 10.4, 15.2, and 20 mph. These experiments were designed to maximize airborne releases by fluidizing the soil as it was pumped into the wind tunnel. Thus the airborne releases should represent upper limit values for soil-working operations. Airborne concentration and particle size samples were collected and all of the material deposited downstream was collected to calculate a mass balance. The fraction airborne was calculated using these measurements.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
5044748
Report Number(s):
PNL-3498
TRN: 80-016199
DOE Contract Number:  
AC06-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; CESIUM 137; RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION; SOILS; CONTAMINATION; ENTRAINMENT; BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; PARTICLES; WIND; WIND TUNNELS; ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES; BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES; BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES; CESIUM ISOTOPES; DATA; ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT; INFORMATION; ISOTOPES; MASS TRANSFER; NUCLEI; NUMERICAL DATA; ODD-EVEN NUCLEI; RADIOISOTOPES; TUNNELS; YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES; 510301* - Environment, Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- Soil- (-1987); 052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage

Citation Formats

Sutter, S L. Potential airborne release from soil-working operations in a contaminated area. United States: N. p., 1980. Web. doi:10.2172/5044748.
Sutter, S L. Potential airborne release from soil-working operations in a contaminated area. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5044748
Sutter, S L. 1980. "Potential airborne release from soil-working operations in a contaminated area". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5044748. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/5044748.
@article{osti_5044748,
title = {Potential airborne release from soil-working operations in a contaminated area},
author = {Sutter, S L},
abstractNote = {Experiments were performed to provide an indication of how much material could be made airborne during soil-working operations in a contaminated area. Approximately 50 kg of contaminated soil were collected, dried, and mixed, and particle size distribution and /sup 137/Cs content were characterized. In four experiments performed in a 2 ft x 2 ft wind tunnel at the Radioactive Aerosol Release Test Facility, soil was pumped into an airstream moving at 3.2, 10.4, 15.2, and 20 mph. These experiments were designed to maximize airborne releases by fluidizing the soil as it was pumped into the wind tunnel. Thus the airborne releases should represent upper limit values for soil-working operations. Airborne concentration and particle size samples were collected and all of the material deposited downstream was collected to calculate a mass balance. The fraction airborne was calculated using these measurements.},
doi = {10.2172/5044748},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5044748}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1980},
month = {Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1980}
}