Discharge and flow distribution, Columbia River estuary. Transport of radio nuclides by streams

Book · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1975

OSTI ID:7361432

07,; Lutz, G A; Hubbell, D W; Stevens, Jr, H H

Low-level radioactive wastes were discharged into the Columbia River at the Hanford Reservation, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, near Richland, Wash., from 1944 until early 1971. The various radionuclides that made up the waste in the river associated with sediment and biota or remained in solution and were subsequently distributed throughout the estuary and into the Pacific Ocean. To provide information on the amount of radionuclides being transported through the estuary, continuous records of water discharge were obtained near both the upper and the lower ends of the estuary during the period 1968 to 1970. Complex velocity distributions, mainly due to salinity gradients, made it impossible to use conventional methods of measuring discharge in the lower part of the estuary; however, a new technique, MOVD (measurement of velocity distribution by moving boat), was developed for determining the magnitude and direction of the water velocity throughout the entire depth at a vertical. Repetitive measurements at a series of verticals in cross sections at the Beaver Army Terminal, Oregon, Columbia River mile 53.3, and at Astoria, Oregon, Columbia River mile 14, defined flow hydrographs at these locations during half tidal cycles on a number of occasions.

• OSTI ID: 7361432
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

520300* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
COLUMBIA RIVER
CONTAMINATION
DISTRIBUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
ESTUARIES
FLOW RATE
HANFORD PRODUCTION REACTORS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
MEASURING METHODS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION REACTORS
PRODUCTION REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
REACTORS
RIVERS
SEDIMENTS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
VELOCITY
WASTES
WATER