Environmental monitoring at two Superfund sites, the U.S. Department of Energy`s Hanford Site and Pantex Plant

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:225508

Gray, R H ^[1]

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1. Battelle Pantex, Amarillo, TX (United States)

The US Department of Energy`s Hanford Site was established in southeastern Washington during the 1940s to produce plutonium during World War II. The Pantex Plant in the Texas Panhandle was originally used by the US Army for loading conventional ammunition shells and bombs. The Plant was rehabilitated and enhanced in the 1950s to assemble nuclear weapons. Environmental monitoring has been ongoing at both locations for several decades. Monitoring objectives are to detect and assess potential impacts of facility operations on air, surface and ground waters, foodstuffs, fish, wildlife, soils, and vegetation. Currently, measured concentrations of airborne radionuclides around the perimeters of both sites are below applicable guidelines. Concentrations of radionuclides and nonradiological water quality in the Columbia River at Hanford are in compliance with applicable standards. Radiological and nonradiological water quality in the Ogallala Aquifer beneath the Pantex Plant is also in compliance with applicable standards. Foodstuffs irrigated with river water downstream from the Hanford Site show levels of radionuclides that are similar to those found in foodstuffs from control areas. The low levels of {sup 137}Cs and {sup 90}Sr in some onsite Hanford wildlife samples and concentrations of radionuclides in soils and vegetation from onsite and offsite at both locations are typical of those attributable to naturally occurring radioactivity and to worldwide fallout. The calculated dose potentially received by a maximally exposed individual (i.e., based on hypothetical, worst-case assumptions for all routes of exposure) at both sites in 1993 was {<=} 0.03 mrem.

• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830; AC04-91AL65030
• OSTI ID: 225508
• Report Number(s): CONF-950917--; ISBN 0-7918-1219-7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
AIR
AQUIFERS
CESIUM 137
COLUMBIA RIVER
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FISHES
FOOD CHAINS
GROUND WATER
HANFORD RESERVATION
METALS
NATURE RESERVES
NITROGEN OXIDES
PANTEX PLANT
PLANTS
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
SOILS
STRONTIUM 90
SURFACE WATERS
VOLATILE MATTER
WILD ANIMALS