United States Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Facilities. Environmental monitoring report, calendar year 1977

Technical Report · Wed Jun 21 04:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:7028710

The DOE Oak Ridge Reservation contains three major operating facilities: the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP), and the Y-12 Plant; all of which are operated by Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division. In addition, two smaller DOE facilities are in the area: the Comparative Animal Research Laboratory, and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities. The Environmental Monitoring Program for the Oak Ridge area includes sampling and analysis of air, water from surface streams, creek sediments, biota, and soil for both radioactive and nonradioactive materials. This report presents a summary of the results of the program for calendar year 1977. Surveillance of radioactivity in the Oak Ridge environs indicates that atmospheric concentrations of radioactivity were not significantly different from other areas in East Tennessee. Concentrations of radioactivity in the Clinch River and in fish collected from the river were less than 6 percent of the permissible concentration and intake guides for individuals in the offsite environment. The total body dose to a hypothetical maximum exposed individual at the site boundary was calculated to be 7.2 mrem/yr. Surveillance of nonradioactive materials in the Oak Ridge environs shows that established limits were not exceeded for those materials possibly present in the air as a result of plant operations, with the exception of fluorides which exceeded the limits on several occasions. Several abatement projects to reduce fluoride emissions became fully operational in 1977. The chemical water quality data in surface streams obtained from the water sampling program indicated that average concentrations resulting from plant effluents were in compliance with State stream guidelines with the exception of fluorides which were slightly over the limit.

• Research Organization: Union Carbide Corp., Oak Ridge, Tenn. (USA). Nuclear Div.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 7028710
• Report Number(s): Y/UB-8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOMASS
CHEMICAL EFFLUENTS
CLINCH RIVER
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FISHES
FLUIDS
GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS
GASEOUS WASTES
GASES
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
ISOTOPE SEPARATION PLANTS
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OAK RIDGE
ORGDP
ORNL
PLANTS
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RIVERS
SAMPLING
SEDIMENTS
SOILS
SOUTHEAST REGION
STREAMS
SURFACE AIR
SURFACE WATERS
TENNESSEE
US AEC
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
VERTEBRATES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WILD ANIMALS
Y-12 PLANT