Water budget for SRP burial ground area

Technical Report · Mon Mar 19 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:6671274

Hubbard, J E; Emslie, R H

Radionuclide migration from the SRP burial ground for solid low-level waste has been studied extensively. Most of the buried radionuclides are fixed on the soil and show negligible movement. The major exception is tritium, which when leached from the waste by percolating rainfall, forms tritiated water and moves with the groundwater. The presence of tritium has been useful in tracing groundwater flow paths to outcrop. A subsurface tritium plume moving from the southwest corner of the burial ground toward an outcrop near Four Mile Creek has been defined. Groundwater movement is so slow that much of the tritium decays before reaching the outcrop. The burial ground tritium plume defined to date is virtually all in the uppermost sediment layer, the Barnwell Formation. The purpose of the study reported in this memorandum was to investigate the hypothesis that deeper flow paths, capable of carrying substantial amounts of tritium, may exist in the vicinity of the burial ground. As a first step in seeking deeper flow paths, a water budget was constructed for the burial ground site. The water budget, a materials balance used by hydrologists, is expressed in annual area inches of rainfall. Components of the water budget for the burial ground area were analyzed to determine whether significant flow paths may exist below the tan clay. Mean annual precipitation was estimated as 47 inches, with evapotranspiration, run-off, and groundwater recharge estimated as 30, 2, and 15 inches, respectively. These estimates, when combined with groundwater discharge data, suggest that 5 inches of the groundwater recharge flow above the tan clay and that 10 inches flow below the tan clay. Therefore, two-thirds of the groundwater recharge appears to follow flow paths that are deeper than those previously found. 13 references, 10 figures, 5 tables.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-76SR00001
• OSTI ID: 6671274
• Report Number(s): DPST-83-742; ON: DE84015772
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DATA
DIFFUSION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
HYDROLOGY
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUMES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SOILS
TRITIUM
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER
WATER TABLES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES