Aerial remote sensing surveys progress report: Helicopter geophysical survey of the Oak Ridge Reservation

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6532219· OSTI ID:6532219

Doll, W E; Nyquist, J E; King, A D ^[1]; Bell, D T ^[2]; Holladay, J S ^[3]; Labson, V F; Pellerin, L ^[4]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
3. Geonics Aerodat, Ltd., Mississuaga, ON (Canada)
4. Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States)

The 35,252 acre Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in the western portion of the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province in Tennessee, has been a nuclear production and development facility for50 years. Contaminants in the many waste sites on the ORR include a wide variety of radioactive isotopes as well as many organic and inorganic compounds. The locations, geometry, and contents of many of these waste sites are reasonably well known, while others are poorly known or unknown. To better characterize the reasonably well known sites and search for additional potentially environmentally hazardous sites, a two-phase aerial survey of the ORR was developed. Phase I began in March 1992 and consisted of aerial radiation, multispectral scanner, and photographic (natural color and color infrared) surveys. Phase II began in November 1992 and is described in this report. Phase II consisted of helicopter electromagnetic (HEM), magnetic, and gamma radiation surveys. Targets of the survey included both man-made (drums, trench boundaries, burn pits, well heads) and geologic (fractures, faults, karst features, geologic contacts) features. The Phase II survey has three components: testing, reconnaissance, and high-resolution data acquisition. To date, the testing and reconnaissance data acquisition have been completed, and some of the data have been processed. They indicate that: (1) magnetic and HEM data are complementary and do not always highlight the same anomaly; (2) under favorable circumstances, helicopter magnetometer systems are capable of detecting groups of four or more 55-gal drums at detector altitudes of 15 m or less; (3) HEM data provide data that compare favorably with surface data collected over burial trenches, (4) well casings may be related to magnetic monopole anomalies, as would be expected; and (5) changes in HEM and magnetic anomaly character are related to lithologic changes and may be used to track contacts between known outcrops.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6532219
• Report Number(s): ES/ER/TM-62; ON: DE93011828
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
AERIAL MONITORING
GAMMA RADIATION
OAK RIDGE RESERVATION
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
CARBONATES
CLAYS
DATA ACQUISITION
DATA COMPILATION
FLUID FLOW
GEOLOGY
GROUND WATER
HYDROLOGY
LEACHATES
LEAKS
MAGNETOMETERS
PLUMES
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
TANKS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CONTAINERS
DATA
DISPERSIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MIXTURES
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIATIONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SOLUTIONS
SURVEYS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WATER
540130* - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage