Description of radiological problems at inactive uranium mill sites and formerly utilized MED/AEC sites

During the early years of development of the nuclear program in the United States, more than a hundred sites were used by the Manhattan Engineer District (MED), and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and/or its uranium suppliers. Many of these sites are no longer used for such activities, but in many cases, the real estate remains contaminated with radioactivity and can be a potential source of exposure to members of the general public. In addition, 22 inactive uranium mill tailings sites exist in the western part of the United States. Radioactive contamination conditions range from slight contamination on the surfaces of buildings and equipment to extensive contamination of the subsoil. The Department of Energy is conducting a program to assure that adequate precautions are taken in the management of these properties to provide the cost-effective protection of public health while permitting further use of land and other resources. Several issues which should be considered in the development of an effective policy for long-term management of such properties are identified

Surveillance of Site A and Plot M. Report for 1996

The results of the environmental surveillance program conducted at Site A/Plot M in the Palos Forest Preserve area for 1996 are presented. The surveillance program is the ongoing remedial action that resulted from the 1976-1978 radiological characterization of the site. That study determined that very low levels of hydrogen-3 (as tritiated water) had migrated from the burial ground and were present in two nearby hand-pumped picnic wells. The current program consists of sample collection and analysis of air, surface and subsurface water, and bottom sediment. The results of the analyses are used to (1) monitor the migration pathway of water from the burial ground (Plot M) to the hand-pumped picnic wells, (2) establish if buried radionuclides other than hydrogen-3 have migrated, and (3) generally characterize the radiological environment of the area. Hydrogen-3 in the Red Gate Woods picnic wells was still detected this year, but the average and maximum concentrations were significantly less than found earlier. Tritiated water continues to be detected in a number of wells, boreholes, dolomite holes, and a surface stream. For many years it was the only radionuclide found to have migrated in measurable quantities. Analyses since 1984 have indicated the presence of low levels of strontium-90 in water from a number of boreholes next to Plot M. The available data does not allow a firm conclusion as to whether the presence of this nuclide represents recent migration or movement that may have occurred before Plot M was capped. The results of the surveillance program continue to indicate that the radioactivity remaining at Site A/Plot M does not endanger the health or safety of the public visiting the site, using the picnic area, or living in the vicinity

Formerly utilized MED/AEC sites remedial action program. Radiological survey of site A, Palos Park Forest Preserve, Chicago. Final report

The principal finding of this study of Site A (CP-2, CP-3 Reactors) and Plot M (burial site) is the presence of tritium (as water) in the Plot M area and in the three wells to the north. No abnormal amounts of radioactivity were found in any other Forest Preserve District wells or in any private wells. The only radionuclide in the Site A core samples attributable to operations at the Site is tritium. The concentrations were substantially less than in the Plot M area. Elevated concentrations of uranium and plutonium were found on the surface of the bed of a swale 50 to 200 feet north and downhill of Plot M. Average values over this area were about 10 pCi/g U and 0.2 pCi/g for Pu. The only important pathway for exposure to the public from the radionuclides buried in Plot M is from the tritiated water moving from the Plot to the dolomite aquifer and consumed by individuals using the picnic wells. The possible dose to people from this pathway is estimated at 0.7 mrem/y as compared to the EPA drinking water standard of 4 mrem/y. Elevated tritium concentrations were found in the soil around and beneath Plot M; they decrease with increasing distance from the Plot. Tritium has been found in the subsoil as deep as samples have been collected, so it must be assumed that the ground beneath and immediately around the Plot contains tritium down to the dolomite aquifer about 130 feet deep. The total tritium content in this area is estimated to be about 3000 Ci. In the three waterways that drain the Plot, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Des Plaines River, and Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, tritium from the Plot was not detected. Small amounts of other radionuclides (U, Pu, /sup 90/Sr) have been found in boreholes beneath the concrete cap covering the Plot, but not in the subsoil outside of the Plot. (14 figs, 36 tables

Federal Register

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii

Radioactividad, medioambiente y espectroscopía gamma : De la teoría al laboratorio

Este libro, destinado a docentes y estudiantes de grado y postgrado de Ciencias Exactas e Ingeniería, pretende aportar al estudio de la detección de la radiación gamma (γ), presentando la teoría, la implementación experimental y su aplicación al estudio de matrices ambientales. Se discuten los detectores más comúnmente empleados y el sistema electrónico de conformación y procesamiento de señales. Finalmente, se proponen, desarrollan y analizan paso a paso experimentos de espectroscopía γ.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta