Ground-water hydrology and subsurface migration of radionuclides at a commercial radioactive-waste burial site, West Valley, Cattaraugus County, New York
Low-level radioactive wastes were buried during 1963-75 in a series of trenches excavated in a fine-grained till. All trenches contain water, and water levels in some have risen repeatedly and have required periodic pumpout. Computer simulations indicate that water seeping outward through the trench walls will not reach adjacent small streams as long as water in the trenches remains below the base of the covers. If trench water should rise into the 2 to 4 m of reworked till covering the trenches and seep out, however, it could flow overland to streams. Peak tritium concentrations (generally 10/sup -5/ to 10/sup -3/ ..mu..Ci/mL) in cores from test holes drilled near the trenches in 1976 were found within 3 m of land surface and are attributed to surface contamination from fallout or surface spills. Secondary peaks found at about 9 m depth from cores of two test holes next to trench 5 suggest that outward migration may be as much as 3 m. Concentrations in cores collected from beneath trenches 4, 5, and 8 indicate that tritium migrated less than 3 m downward in the 7 to 11 years after the trenches were completed. On the basis of the assumption that the concentration of tritium remains constant in the trench water for 100 years, the maximum distance tritium might migrate is estimated to be between 10 and 14 m below the trench floor. The one radionuclide besides tritium to have migrated close to 1 m is /sup 14/C. The time for detectable concentrations of /sup 14/C to migrate through the 23 m of till is estimated to range from 1500 to 20,000 years.
- OSTI ID:
- 5362341
- Journal Information:
- U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap.; (United States), Vol. 75:1325
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
NEW YORK
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
CARBON 14
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DEPTH
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
GASES
GROUND WATER
HYDROLOGY
PUMPING
STREAMS
TIME DEPENDENCE
TRITIUM
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON ISOTOPES
DIMENSIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FEDERAL REGION II
FLUIDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
SIMULATION
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WASTES
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
510300 - Environment
Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)