Assessment of alternatives for long-term management of uranium ore residues and contaminated soils located at DOE's Niagara Falls Storage Site
About 11,000 m/sup 3/ of uranium ore residues and 180,000 m/sup 3/ of wastes (mostly slightly contaminated soils) are consolidated within a diked containment area at the Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS) located about 30 km north of Buffalo, NY. The residues account for less than 6% of the total volume of contaminated materials but almost 99% of the radioactivty. The average /sup 226/Ra concentration in the residues is 67,000 pCi/g. Several alternatives for long-term management of the wastes and residues are being considered, including: improvement of the containment at NFSS, modification of the form of the residues, management of the residues separately from the wastes, management of the wastes and residues at another humid site (Oak Ridge, TN) or arid site (Hanford, WA), and dispersal of the wastes in the ocean. Potential radiological risks are expected to be smaller than the nonradiological risks of occupational and transportation-related injuries and deaths. Dispersal of the slightly contaminated wastes in the ocean is not expected to result in any significant impacts on the ocean environment or pose any significant radiological risk to humans. It will be necessary to take perpetual care of the near-surface burial sites because the residues and wastes will remain hazardous for thousands of years. If controls cease, the radioactive materials will eventually be dispersed in the environment. Predicted loss of the earthen covers over the buried materials ranges from several hundred to more than two million years, depending primarily on the use of the land surface. Groundwater will eventually be contaminated in all alternatives; however, the groundwater pathway is relatively insignificant with respect to radiological risks to the general population. A person intruding into the residues would incur an extremely high radiation dose.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31-109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 6259907
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-841187-28; ON: DE85005054
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5. DOE environmental protection information meeting, Albuquerque, NM, USA, 6 Nov 1984
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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