Oak Ridge Dose Reconstruction Project Summary Report; Reports of the Oak Ridge Dose Reconstruction, Vol. 7

Technical Report · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/774581· OSTI ID:774581

Widner, Thomas E ^[1]

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1. JA Jones Environmental Services, Oakland, CA

In the early 1990s, concern about the Oak Ridge Reservation's past releases of contaminants to the environment prompted Tennessee's public health officials to pursue an in-depth study of potential off-site health effects at Oak Ridge. This study, the Oak Ridge dose reconstruction, was supported by an agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the State of Tennessee, and was overseen by a 12-member panel of individuals appointed by Tennessee's Commissioner of Health. The panel requested that the principal investigator for the project prepare the following report, ''Oak Ridge Dose Reconstruction Project Summary Report,'' to serve the following purposes: (1) summarize in a single, less technical report, the methods and results of the various investigations that comprised the Phase II of the dose reconstruction; (2) describe the systematic searching of classified and unclassified historical records that was a vital component of the project; and (3) summarize the less detailed, screening-level assessments that were performed to evaluate the potential health significance of a number of materials, such a uranium, whose priority did not require a complete dose reconstruction effort. This report describes each major step of the dose reconstruction study: (1) the review of thousands of historical records to obtain information relating to past operations at each facility; (2) estimation of the quantity and timing of releases of radioiodines from X-10, of mercury from Y-12, of PCB's from all facilities, and of cesium-137 and other radionuclides from White Oak Creek; (3) evaluation of the routes taken by these contaminants through the environment to nearby populations; and (4) estimation of doses and health risks to exposed groups. Calculations found the highest excess cancer risks for a female born in 1952 who drank goat milk; the highest non-cancer health risk was for children in a farm family exposed to PCBs in and near East Fork Poplar Creek. More detailed dose and risk estimates, and associated uncertainties, are presented in several technical reports. One way to easily locate them in OSTI's Information Bridge is by searching the ''report number field'' for the number DOE/OR/21981*. The asterisk placed after the base number will enable the search to list all of the related reports in this series.

• Research Organization: Office of ES and H, Office of Epidemiologic Studies (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Environment, Safety and Health (EH) (US)
• OSTI ID: 774581
• Report Number(s): DOE/OR/21981-07
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
CESIUM 137
CHILDREN
CONTAMINANT
DOSE
DOSE RECONSTRUCTION
EVALUATION
EXPOSURE
FARMS
FEMALES
GOATS
HEALTH
HEALTH AGREEMENT
IODINE
MERCURY
MILK
NEOPLASMS
OAK RIDGE
PCBS
POPLARS
PUBLIC
PUBLIC HEALTH
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDES
RELEASES
RISK
TENNESSEE
URANIUM