Seasonal trends in environmental tritium concentrations in a small forest adjacent to a radioactive waste storage area

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5325539

Amano, Hikaru ^[1]; Garten, Jr, C T ^[2]

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1. Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

Tritium (HTO) concentrations were studied for an entire year in a floodplain forest adjacent to a low-level radioactive solid waste storage area (SWSA No. 5) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. Tritium in soil was the principal source of HTO to the deciduous forest. Evaporation from the surface soil along with transpiration from trees leaves both contributed to HTO in the forest atmosphere. During the growing season, transpiration was the principal contributor of HTO to the forest atmosphere, while during the dormant season, the main source of atmospheric HTO was evaporation from the surface soil. Seasonal changes and the characteristics of vegetation will influence the relative importance of evaporation and transpiration as sources of atmospheric HTO near the ground in temperate deciduous forests. 8 refs., 9 figs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 5325539
• Report Number(s): CONF-910920-2; ON: DE91018937
• Resource Relation: Conference: 4. topical meeting on tritium technology in fission, fusion, and isotopic applications, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 30 Sep - 4 Oct 1991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
DECIDUOUS TREES
TRANSPIRATION
FORESTS
MICROCLIMATES
GROUND WATER
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
SOILS
EVAPORATION
TRITIUM
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
ORNL
PLANTS
SURFACE AIR
AIR
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CLIMATES
FLUIDS
GASES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
TREES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VARIATIONS
WASTES
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
540230* - Environment
Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
540130 - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
540330 - Environment
Aquatic- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
580000 - Geosciences
052000 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Management