Formerly utilized MED/AEC sites remedial action program. Radiological survey of site A, Palos Park Forest Preserve, Chicago. Final report

Technical Report · Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6869820· OSTI ID:6869820

The principal finding of this study of Site A (CP-2, CP-3 Reactors) and Plot M (burial site) is the presence of tritium (as water) in the Plot M area and in the three wells to the north. No abnormal amounts of radioactivity were found in any other Forest Preserve District wells or in any private wells. The only radionuclide in the Site A core samples attributable to operations at the Site is tritium. The concentrations were substantially less than in the Plot M area. Elevated concentrations of uranium and plutonium were found on the surface of the bed of a swale 50 to 200 feet north and downhill of Plot M. Average values over this area were about 10 pCi/g U and 0.2 pCi/g for Pu. The only important pathway for exposure to the public from the radionuclides buried in Plot M is from the tritiated water moving from the Plot to the dolomite aquifer and consumed by individuals using the picnic wells. The possible dose to people from this pathway is estimated at 0.7 mrem/y as compared to the EPA drinking water standard of 4 mrem/y. Elevated tritium concentrations were found in the soil around and beneath Plot M; they decrease with increasing distance from the Plot. Tritium has been found in the subsoil as deep as samples have been collected, so it must be assumed that the ground beneath and immediately around the Plot contains tritium down to the dolomite aquifer about 130 feet deep. The total tritium content in this area is estimated to be about 3000 Ci. In the three waterways that drain the Plot, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Des Plaines River, and Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, tritium from the Plot was not detected. Small amounts of other radionuclides (U, Pu, /sup 90/Sr) have been found in boreholes beneath the concrete cap covering the Plot, but not in the subsoil outside of the Plot. (14 figs, 36 tables)

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. (USA). Div. of Environmental Control Technology
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6869820
• Report Number(s): DOE/EV-0005/7; TRN: 78-013429
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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