Forest Irrigation of Tritiated Water: A Proven Tritiated Water Management Tool - 13357
- Savannah River National Laboratory, Bldg. 773-42A, Aiken, SC 29808 (United States)
Tritium releases from the Old Radioactive Waste Burial Ground (ORWBG) at the SRS in South Carolina has impacted groundwater and surface water. Tritiated groundwater plumes discharge into Fourmile Branch which is a small tributary of the Savannah River, a regional water resource. Taking advantage of the groundwater flow paths and the local topography a water collection and irrigation system was constructed and has been used at the SRS for over a decade to reduce these tritiated water releases to Fourmile Branch. The tritiated water is transferred to the atmosphere by evaporation from the pond surface, and after irrigation, wetted surface evaporation and evapotranspiration through the forest vegetation. Over the last decade SRS has irrigated over 120,000,000 gallons of tritiated water, which diverted over 6000 curies away from Fourmile Branch and the Savannah River. The system has been effective in reducing the flux of tritiated groundwater by approximately 70%. Mass balance studies of tritium in the forest soils before operations and over the last decade indicate that approximately 90% of the tritiated water that is irrigated is transferred to the atmosphere. Dose studies indicate that exposure to site workers and offsite maximally exposed individual is very low, approximately 6 mrem/year and 0.004 mrem/year, respectively. To consistently meet the flux reduction goal of tritium into Fourmile Branch optimization activities are proposed. These efforts will increase irrigation capacity and area. An additional 17 acres are proposed for an expansion of the area to be irrigated and a planting of approximately 40 acres of pine forest plantations is underway to expand irrigation capacity. Co-mingled with the tritiated groundwater are low concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (cVOCs), and 1,4-dioxane. Research studies and SRS field data indicate the forest irrigation system may have an added benefit of reducing the mass of these co-contaminants via degradation. This semi-passive system makes use of natural processes of hydrology and evapotranspiration to manage tritium-contaminated water by reducing its entrance into site streams and the Savannah River, as well as treating low levels of co-mingled VOCs. SRS expects to operate the system until the tritium decays to levels that represent a minimal impact to Fourmile Branch and the Savannah River, and meets the stakeholder expectations. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9-332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22221344
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-13-WM-13357; TRN: US14V0537042299
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste Management 2013 - WM2013 Conference: International collaboration and continuous improvement, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 18 refs.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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A containment and disposition strategy for tritium contaminated groundwater at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina, United States.
Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CONCENTRATION RATIO
DIOXANE
EVAPORATION
FORESTS
GROUND WATER
HYDROLOGY
IRRIGATION
MASS BALANCE
OPTIMIZATION
PERSONNEL
PINES
PLUMES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SAVANNAH RIVER
SOILS
SOUTH CAROLINA
TOPOGRAPHY
TRITIUM
TRITIUM OXIDES
VOLATILE MATTER
VOLATILITY