Clinck River study: an investigation of the fate of radio-nuclides released to a surface stream

Book · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1964

OSTI ID:5504897

Pickering, R J; Carrigan, Jr, P H; Parker, F L

The Clinch River Study is a multi-agency effort to evaluate the physical, chemical, and biological effects of the release to the Clinch River of low-level radioactive wastes from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The major radionuclides released are ruthenium-106, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and strontium-90. Hydrologic and biologic studies indicated that radiation dosages known to result or assumed to result from direct and indirect means of exposure are below maximum permissible levels. Radionuclide concentrations in river water were measured at seven sampling stations on the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers. Mass balance calculations for 44 weeks of sampling indicate that losses of radionuclides from the water phase to river bottom sediment represent only a very small portion of the total radioactivity released to the river. A study of Clinch River bottom sediment cores collected in 1962 disclosed a recurring pattern of variation in radioactivity with depth, which may reflect past events in waste disposal operations at the laboratory. Current investigations are expected to provide information about the chemical forms in which the major radionuclides exist and the mechanisms by which they were incorporated in the sediments.

• OSTI ID: 5504897
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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