Assessment of DOE low-level radioactive solid waste disposal storage activities: task 103. Final report
From a survey of DOE sites, facilities, and practices for the disposal/storage of low-level radioactive solid waste, the following can be summarized: (1) No health hazard has been reported. (2) Some burial grounds are releasing small quantities of radionuclides to the immediate environment. These releases are well within release limits at all sites with the exception of on-site concentrations at ORNL. At ORNL, concentrations in the Clinch River are less than 1% of the release limits. (3) Many practices have been instituted in the last few years which have improved disposal/storage operations considerably. The most notable are: (a) improved record keeping and a centralized computer data file, (b) improved burial site surface maintenance and drainage control, (c) initiation of the use of waste compactors and current plans for their use at most burial sites, (d) initiation of studies at major sites for evaluation of the long-term impact of buried waste, (e) improvement of modeling/monitoring programs at all major sites, (f) initiation of studies to provide engineering methods of reducing burial ground discharges at ORNL, and (g) initiation of the shallow land burial technologoy program.Overall, the low-level waste is being disposed of and stored in a safe and orderly manner. Recent and planned improvements will provide increased environmental protection. The only unsatisfactory area involves record keeping. Records of waste buried years ago are either poor or nonexistent. This makes it very difficult to evaluate the total impact of some 30 years of disposal operations. While some of this important history is lost forever, projects now under way should be able to reconstruct most of it.
- Research Organization:
- Battelle Columbus Labs., OH (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-92-103
- OSTI ID:
- 5324947
- Report Number(s):
- BMI-1984; TRN: 78-003247
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
SOLID WASTES
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
HEALTH HAZARDS
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
HAZARDS
MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
STORAGE
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE STORAGE
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage