Ground-water hydrology and subsurface migration of radionuclides at a commercial radioactive-waste burial site, West Valley, Cattaraugus County, New York

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5362341

Prudic, D E

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), Journal Name: U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap.; (United States) Vol. 75:1325; ISSN XGPPA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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