Migration of radionuclides following shallow land burial

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5323995

Sedlet, J; Golchert, N W

A study of radionuclide migration was conducted at a facility used from 1944 to 1949 for the shallow land burial of radwaste produced during operations with two reactors and related nuclear research. It is situated in glacial drift 45 m thick. Underlying the drift is a generally level Silurian dolomite bedrock 60 m thick. The thickness of the drift decreases as the surface slopes downhill (north) until the dolomite reaches the surface and forms the bed of a river, 700 m to the north. This study was begun after tritiated water was detected in two picnic wells north of the facility, between the burial plot and the river. Surface and subsurface measurements indicate that tritium is migrating out of the burial site, but no other radionuclides have left the plot. The tritium concentrations decrease with distance from the plot. Tritium was found in the subsoil at all depths sampled, so the ground beneath and immediately around the plot contains tritium down to the dolomite aquifer. Time of travel of water from the burial plot to the nearest well is estimated to be 54 months. This would imply the peak concentration would reach the dolomite in about 35 years. By this time, 86% of the tritium would have disappeared by radioactive decay. The cyclical nature of the tritium content in the two wells implies that tritiated water is carried from the burial site by the spring rains when they recharge the groundwater supply.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5323995
• Report Number(s): CONF-800304-11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
054000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
510301 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Soil-- (-1987)
520301 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Water-- (1987)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ABANDONED SITES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONATE ROCKS
CARBONATES
CONTAMINATION
DOLOMITE
DRINKING WATER
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
GROUND DISPOSAL
GROUND WATER
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAGNESIUM CARBONATES
MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MINERALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SOILS
TRITIUM
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
TRITIUM OXIDES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES