A Review of Environmental Conditions and Performance of the Commercial Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility near Sheffield, Illinois

Technical Report · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5799099· OSTI ID:5799099

Murphy, E. M. ^[1]; Bergeron, M. P. ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

The Sheffield low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal site is located about 5 km southwest of the town of Sheffield, Bureau County, in northwestern Illinois. Low-level radioactive waste was buried at the site between August 1967 and April 1978. The ground-water system beneath the Sheffield site can be conceptualized as containing two separate aquifer systems: a regional confined bedrock aquifer system and a local unconfined aquifer system in the shallow sequence of unconsolidated quaternary-aged sediments. The most significant hydrogeologic unit on the site is a pebbly-sand unit found within the Toulon Member of the Glasford Formation that grades into a coarse gravel with sand and pebbles east of the disposal site. In an area east of the site, a narrow, channel-like depression is filled with coarse, gravelly sand of the pebbly-sand unit of the Toulon Member, providing a hydraulic connection between the site and a nearby strip-mine lake. Three major problems resulting from the waste burial at the Sheffield site include subsidence of trench covers, significant erosion and elevated concentrations of tritium in the vadose zone and ground water at Sheffield.

• Research Organization: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USNRC; USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5799099
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR--5713; PNL--7621; ON: TI91012194
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTINIDES
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
AMERICIUM
AQUIFERS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
CLIMATES
COBALT 60
COBALT ISOTOPES
DRILLING
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
EROSION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EXPLORATORY WELLS
FEDERAL REGION V
GEOLOGY
GROUND DISPOSAL
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
HYDROLOGY
ILLINOIS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
IODINE 129
IODINE ISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LAND USE
LIGHT NUCLEI
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RADIOISOTOPES
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
STRATIGRAPHY
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
TESTING
TOPOGRAPHY
TRANSPLUTONIUM ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
TRITIUM
USA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER
WATER QUALITY
WATER TABLES
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YEARS LIVING RADIOISOT
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES