Analysis of the Variability of Classified and Unclassified Radiological Source term Inventories in the Rainier Mesa/Shoshone Mountain Area, Nevada Test Site
It has been proposed that unclassified source terms used in RM/SM reactive transport modeling investigations should be based on yield-weighted source terms calculated using the RM/SM average source term from Bowen et al. (2001) and the unclassified announced yields reported in DOE/NV-209. This unclassified inventory is likely to be used in unclassified contaminant boundary calculations and is, thus, relevant to compare to the classified inventory. They have examined the classified radionuclide inventory produced by 73 underground nuclear tests conducted in the Rainier Mesa/Shoshone Mountain (RM/SM) area of the Nevada Test Site. The goals were to (1) evaluate the variability in classified radiological source terms among the 73 tests and (2) and compare that variability and inventory uncertainties to an average unclassified inventory (e.g. Bowen 2001). To evaluate source term variability among the 73 tests, radiological inventories were compared on two relative scales: geometric mean and yield-weighted geometric mean. Furthermore, radiological inventories were either decay corrected to a common date (9/23/1992) or the time zero (t{sub 0}) of each test. Thus, a total of four data sets were produced. The date of 9/23/1992 was chosen based on the date of the last underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 945619
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-TR-404695; TRN: US0901223
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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