Decommissioning and decontamination activity, Gnome Site, Eddy County, New Mexico

Technical Report · Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6224070· OSTI ID:6224070

The purpose of this assessment is to present a brief description of the proposed activity and its potential impacts on the environment. This assessment will constitute an evaluation as to whether or not a formal Environmental Statement need be prepared. As background to the proposed activity, Project Gnome was an underground nuclear test conducted in December 1961 as part of the PLOWSHARE Program. The project site is located about 25 miles southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico. By means of an excavated shaft and tunnel, a 3-kiloton nuclear explosive was emplaced and detonated in a salt bed about 1200 feet below the surface. The uncontaminated rock and salt muck from the original excavation and subsequent contaminated muck and minor construction debris from reentry activities into the nuclear cavity is commingled and stored in a pile near the Gnome/Coach Shaft. Other areas on the site are known to have been contaminated. In 1969, a program was conducted to cleanup and dispose of all surface contamination to whatever depth it occurred in excess of 0.1 mR/hr. Contaminated materials and soil were collected and disposed into the Gnome shaft, which was filled and sealed. Since then, NV has proposed to DOE/HQ much lower criteria for residual radioactive contamination for the Gnome Site. These proposed criteria were to collect and dispose of surficial materials which contain more than 2 x 10/sup -5/ microcuries per gram of soil for beta/gamma emitters and 3 x 10/sup -2/ microcuries per milliliter of tritium in soil moisture. According to the latest reconnaissance in 1972, low concentrations of Cs-137, Sr-90 and tritium were present at various locations on the site in excess of these proposed guidelines. Other operational areas within the site are suspected of containing radioactive contamination in much lesser volume, which are to be determined by careful probing and monitoring, as described in the next section.

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Environment
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 6224070
• Report Number(s): DOE/EA-0022; TRN: 79-016040
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
GNOME EVENT
DECONTAMINATION
SOILS
CONTAMINATION
UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
CESIUM 137
CLEANING
DECOMMISSIONING
EVALUATION
PLOWSHARE PROJECT
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
STRONTIUM 90
TRITIUM
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM ISOTOPES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EXPLOSIONS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MONITORING
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
VELA PROJECT
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
510300* - Environment
Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
510600 - Environment
Terrestrial- Regulations- (-1989)