The U.S. Department of Energy's Regulatory and Evaluation Framework for Demonstrating Radiation Protection of the Environment: Implementation at the Hanford Site
Abstract. In 2001, a multi-agency study was conducted to characterize potential environmental effects from radiological and chemical contaminants on the near-shore environment of the Columbia River at the 300 Area of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Historically, the 300 Area was the location of nuclear fuel fabrication and was the main location for research and development activities from the 1940s until the late 1980s. During past waste handling practices uranium, copper, and other heavy metals were routed to liquid waste streams and ponds near the Columbia River shoreline. The Washington State Department of Health and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Surface Environmental Surveillance Project sampled various environmental components including river water, riverbank spring water, sediment, fishes, crustaceans, bivalve mollusks, aquatic insects, riparian vegetation, small mammals, and terrestrial invertebrates for analyses of radiological and chemical constituents. The radiological analysis results for water and sediment were used as initial input into the RESRAD BIOTA. The RESRAD BIOTA code showed that maximum radionuclide concentrations measured in water and sediment were lower than the initial screening criteria for concentrations to produce dose rates at existing or proposed limits. Radionuclide concentrations measured in biota samples were used to calculate site-specific bioaccumulation coefficients (Biv) to test the utility of the RESRAD BIOTA’s site-specific screening phase. To further evaluate site-specific effects, the default Relative Biological Effect (RBE) for internal alpha particle emissions was reduced by half and the program’s kinetic/allometric calculation approach was initiated. The subsequent calculations showed the initial RESRAD BIOTA results to be conservative, which is appropriate for screening purposes.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 982976
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-39633; HC1009000; TRN: US1004334
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International Conference on Protection of the Environment from the Effects of Ionizing Radiation, 175-192
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALPHA PARTICLES
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
COLUMBIA RIVER
COPPER
CRUSTACEANS
DOSE RATES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FABRICATION
FISHES
HEAVY METALS
INSECTS
INVERTEBRATES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LIQUID WASTES
MAMMALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOACTIVITY
RIVERS
SEDIMENTS
URANIUM
WASTES
RESRAD BIOTA
Biota dose