Environmental monitoring in the vicinity of the Savannah River Plant. Annual report, 1976. [/sup 3/H, /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr]

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7107264· OSTI ID:7107264

A continuous monitoring program has been maintained since 1951 (before plant start-up) to determine concentrations of radioactive materials in a 1200-square-mile area outside SRP. Although some gaseous and liquid radioactive materials are discharged from SRP operations, concentrations and doses to the surrounding population continued to be far below levels considered significant from a public health viewpoint. The concentration of radioactivity added by SRP to its environs during 1976 was too small to be distinguished from natural background radiation and fallout from worldwide nuclear weapons tests. Beta activity in particulate air filters was about 1.5 times the 1975 level and was due entirely to global fallout. This concentration, both at the plant perimeter and 25 miles away (0.07 pCi/m/sup 3/), represents 0.07% of the Concentration Guide (CG) (defined in the Applicable Standards section which follows). Tritium oxide in air at the plant perimeter was greater than in air at more distant locations; the average concentration at the plant perimeter (50 pCi/m/sup 3/) was less than 0.1 of the Concentration Guide. Tritium, cesium-137, and strontium-90 were the only radionuclides of plant origin detectable in river water by routine analyses.Special research programs using ultra-low-level techniques have detected trace quantities of other radionuclides of plant origin. Radioactive materials in river fish also continued very low. Monitoring in a five-square-mile swamp bordering the Savannah River immediately below the SRP boundary has shown radioactivity (primarily cesium-137) above the natural background level in soil and vegetation.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Plant
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-09-0001
• OSTI ID: 7107264
• Report Number(s): DPSPU-77-30-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500300* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
520300 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560161 -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA PARTICLES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOMASS
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
CHARGED PARTICLES
CONTAMINATION
DOSEMETERS
DOSES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FISHES
FLUIDS
GASES
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LUMINESCENT DOSEMETERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLANTS
POPULATIONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RADIOISOTOPES
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RIVERS
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SOILS
STREAMS
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
SURFACE WATERS
SWAMPS
THERMOLUMINESCENT DOSEMETERS
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
TRITIUM OXIDES
US AEC
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VERTEBRATES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES