Evaluation Of Isotope Migration - Land Burial: Water Chemistry at Commercially Operated Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites (Status Report October 1979 - September 1980)

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6356682· OSTI ID:6356682

Czyscinski, Kenneth S. ^[1]; Weiss, Allen J. ^[1]

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1. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

A field and laboratory program was initiated to study the existing commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal sites. This investigation will provide source term data for radionuclides and other solutes in trench waters at the sites and will describe the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the geochemical system that control the movement of radionuclides. In the past year, the disposal sites at Maxey Flats, Kentucky, and Barnwell, South Carolina, were sampled, Maxey Flats for the fourth time, Barnwell for the second. Results of trench water inorganic, organic, and radiochemical analyses are similar to those reported for previous samplings. No overall systematic changes in any disposal trenches were observed during the relatively brief sampling interval. However, changes in some radionuclide and inorganic components were observed in several trenches. Tritium was the most abundant of the radionuclides and was found in all the trench waters. Analyses of water collected from a series of experimental interceptor trenches at Maxey Flats showed them to have a chemical composition intermediate between disposal trench water and local groundwater. Preliminary results of batch sorption tests using site-specific materials from the Barnwell disposal site are reported. Tritium content as a function of depth has been determined in four sediment cores collected from beneath the disposal trenches at the Barnwell facility. Gel filtration chromatography experiments using trench waters from the West Valley, New York, disposal site showed an association between /sup 137/Cs and a portion of the trench water dissolved organic content (DOC). Experiments with spiked trench water (/sup 137/Cs and EDTA) indicated that the organic fraction referred to above was not EDTA.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USNRC; USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 6356682
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR--1862; BNL-NUREG--51315; ON: TI86002685
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTIVITY LEVELS
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
AMERICIUM 241
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM 134
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMISTRY
COBALT 60
COBALT ISOTOPES
DATA
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EUROPIUM 152
EUROPIUM ISOTOPES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GEOCHEMISTRY
GROUND WATER
HEAVY NUCLEI
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INFORMATION
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RARE EARTH ISOTOPES
RARE EARTH NUCLEI
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEDIMENTS
SORPTION
STRONTIUM 85
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
TRITIUM
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER
WATER CHEMISTRY
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES