Radiological survey of the inactive uranium-mill tailings at Falls City, Texas

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5008978· OSTI ID:5008978

Haywood, F F; Christian, D J; Loy, E T; Lorenzo, D; Ellis, B S

Results of a radiological survey conducted at the Falls City, Texas, site in July 1976 are presented. There are seven partial to fully stabilized tailings piles, and an overburden pile from an open-pit mine. Above ground gamma-ray exposure rate measurements show moderate levels of contamination throughout the area with a maximum exposure rate of 500 ..mu..R/hr above tailings pile 2. The average exposure rate over the different areas varied from 14 ..mu..R/hr over the southwest end of tailings pile 7 to 207 ..mu..R/hr over the northeast end of the same pile. Analyses of surface soil and dry-wash sediment samples, as well as calculations of subsurface /sup 226/Ra distribution, serve to define the spread of tailings around the area. Water erosion of the tailings is evident, but, because of abundant growth of vegetation on the tailings piles, wind erosion probably is not a major problem.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5008978
• Report Number(s): ORNL-5462
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510301* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Soil-- (-1987)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
DISTRIBUTION
DOSES
EROSION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FEED MATERIALS PLANTS
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
HEAVY NUCLEI
IMAGES
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
LAND POLLUTION
MANAGEMENT
MILL TAILINGS
MONITORING
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ORES
OVERBURDEN
POLLUTION
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIUM 226
RADIUM ISOTOPES
SAMPLING
SOILS
SOLID WASTES
SOUTHWEST REGION
SPECTROSCOPY
STORAGE
TAILINGS
TEXAS
URANIUM ORES
USA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE STORAGE
WASTES
WATER POLLUTION
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES