Project TN-030: hydrogeology, ORNL radioactive waste burial grounds. US Geological Survey annual report, FY 82. [Burial grounds 3 and 5]

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6551354

Near Burial Ground 3, five wells were cored through Unit F of the Chickamauga Limestone, previously considered to be a probable barrier to ground-water flow. Cores revealed that in this area Unit F actually consists of two continuous silty shale/shaley siltstone members with an interbedded limestone member. Weathering stains in the core and small-size solution openings revealed by televiewer logging indicate that this unit likely has greater permeability than previously described. A unique instrumentation system was designed and installed in six wells to provide information about hydraulic heads in the three geologic units immediately underlying the site. Sediment retrieved from two wells 450 feet and 1300 feet from the site was found to contain as much as 335 pCi/g and 0.83 pCi/g, respectively, of cesium-137. In Burial Ground 5 the construction of four clusters of piezometers of special design was compelted. The deepest wells were cored, geophysical logs were made of each piezometer, and hydraulic conductivities of the bedrock were measured in 50-foot depth increments. No contamination that could be measured by field instrumentation was found in the bedrock. Geophysical logs were made of several older wells in Burial Grounds 5 and 6 and the ILW area. Spectral logging identified the isotopes /sup 60/Co and/or /sup 137/Cs in several well bores. Tritium was found to still be present in water from wells used five years ago during tracer tests in two different areas, suggesting that an inefficient retardive mechanism for this nuclide exists in fine-grained geologic material.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6551354
• Report Number(s): DOE/NBM-83006631; ON: DE83006631
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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