Hydrologic conditions at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho - emphasis: 1974-1978

Technical Report · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:5590684

Barraclough, J T; Lewis, B D; Jensen, R G

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) site covers about 890 square miles of the eastern Snake River Plain and overlies the Snake River Plain aquifer. Low concentrations of aqueous chemical and radioactive wastes have been discharged to shallow ponds and to shallow or deep wells on the site since 1952. A large body of perched ground water has formed in the basalt underlying the waste disposal ponds in the Test Reactor Area. This perched zone contains tritium, chromium-51, cobalt-60, strontium-90, and several nonradioactive ions. Tritium is the only mappable waste constituent in that portion of the Snake River Plain aquifer directly underlying this perched zone. Low concentrations of chemical and low-level radioactive wastes enter directly into the Snake River Plain aquifer through the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) disposal well. Tritium has been discharged to the well since 1953 and has formed the largest waste plume, about 28 square miles in area, in the regional aquifer, and minute concentrations have migrated downgradient a horizontal distance of 7.5 miles. Other waste plumes south of the ICPP contain sodium, chloride, nitrate, and the resultant specific conductance. These plumes have similar configurations and flow southward; the contaminants are in general laterally dispersed in that portion of the aquifer underlying the INEL. Other waste plumes, containing strontium-90 and iodine-129, cover small areas near their points of discharge because strontium-90 is sorbed from solution as it moves through the aquifer and iodine-129 is discharged in very low quantities. Cesium-137 is also discharged through the well but it is strongly sorbed from solution and has never been detected in a sample of ground water at the INEL.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Idaho Falls, ID (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5590684
• Report Number(s): USGS-WSP-2191; ON: DE84900530
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

520301* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Water-- (1987)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
580100 -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
AQUIFERS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
CHROMIUM 51
CHROMIUM ISOTOPES
COBALT 60
COBALT ISOTOPES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
HYDROLOGY
IDAHO CHEMICAL PROCESSING PLANT
IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
INJECTION WELLS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
IODINE 129
IODINE ISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUMES
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
TRITIUM
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER
WELLS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES