Water quality: Historic values and impact of drilling activities during FY 1988 at the reference repository location in southeastern Washington

Technical Report · Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5034631· OSTI ID:5034631

Eddy, P A; Teel, S S; Raymond, J R; Bierschenk, W H

The purpose of the Environmental Monitoring Program was to monitor the characterization activities related to the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP) at boreholes DC-24CX and DC-25CX and document any environmental impacts as a result of these activities including contamination and/or degradation of the aquifer water quality from the invasion of drilling fluids into the formation and surface contamination from the disposal of drilling fluid at the land surface. The first phase of this program involved describing the baseline water quality at the Reference Repository Location (RRL) including data for spring and surface waters, and both the unconfined and confined aquifers. The second phase involved the collection and analysis of samples collected during drilling operations at wells DC-24CX and DC-25CX. Five surface water and 25 spring sampling sites were designated for chemical and radiological background data collection for BWIP. Chemical and radiological background data from 61 wells that obtain water from the unconfined aquifers indicate that the chemistry of these aquifers is similar to the spring and surface water samples. However, some of the wells show contamination from existing operations and past operations of various facilities on the Hanford Site. These contaminants are both chemical and radiological in nature with nitrate as the primary chemical constituent and tritium as the major radiological constituent. 20 refs., 9 figs., 8 tabs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5034631
• Report Number(s): PNL-6497; ON: DE88008068
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
HANFORD RESERVATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
WATER QUALITY
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
AQUIFERS
BASALT
BOREHOLES
EVALUATION
GROUND WATER
MITIGATION
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SURFACE WATERS
TRITIUM
WELL DRILLING
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CAVITIES
DRILLING
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
IGNEOUS ROCKS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
ROCKS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VOLCANIC ROCKS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
053000 - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects
520300 - Environment
Aquatic- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1989)