Recent Greenhouse Gas Concentrations

Gases typically measured in parts per million (ppm), parts per billion (ppb) or parts per trillion (ppt) by volume are presented separately to facilitate comparison of numbers

The use of explosives by the US Antarctic Program. Environmental report

This report was prepared to assist principal investigators and others in complying with NEPA and the protocol on environmental protection to the Antarctic Treaty. Research activities and associated support operations in Antarctica sometimes require use of explosives. This report evaluates potential environmental impacts associated with such activities and possible methods for mitigating those impacts. The greatest single use of explosives, and the only type of blasting that will occur on the Polar Plateau (an exception is the rare use of explosives to cave in dangerous ice for safety reasons), is for seismic surveys. The charges for these are small-scale, are placed in or on the snow or ice, are distributed linearly over long distances, and present no potential impacts to soil or geological substrata. Impacts from those would be less than minor or transitory. Wherever possible, blasting holes in sea ice will be replaced by drilling by auger or melting. Other uses of explosives, such as in geologic research and construction, are discussed

Environmental data and analyses for the proposed management of spent nuclear fuel on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation

DOE needs to continue the safe and efficient management of SNF on ORR, based on the requirement for future SNF storage capacity and implementation of the ROD for the PEIS. DOE is proposing to implement the ROD through proper management of SNF on ORR, including the possible construction and operation of a dry cask storage facility. This report describes the potentially affected environment and analyzes impacts on various resources due to the proposed action. The information provided in this report is intended to support the Environmental Assessment being prepared for the proposed activities. Construction of the dry cask storage facility would result in minimal or no impacts on groundwater, surface water, and ecological resources. Contaminated soils excavated during construction would result in negligible risk to human health and to biota. Except for noise from trucks and equipment, operation of the dry cask storage facility would not be expected to have any impact on vegetation, wildlife, or rare plants or animals. Noise impacts would be minimal. Operation exposures to the average SNF storage facility worker would not exceed approximately 0.40 mSv/year (40 mrem/year). The off-site population dose within an 80-km (50-mile) radius of ORR from SNF operations would be less than 0.052 person-Sv/year (5.2 person-rem/year). Impacts from incident-free transportation on ORR would be less than 1.36 X 10{sup -4} occupational fatal cancers and 4.28 X 10{sup -6} public fatal cancers. Credible accident scenarios that would result in the greatest probable risks would cause less than one in a million cancer fatalities to workers and the public

Temperature inversions in the vicinity of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as characterized by tethersonde data

Accidental releases of hazardous materials to the atmosphere may result from fires that create a buoyant plume which may rise several hundred meters above the ground. For such buoyant release cases, estimates of ground-level concentrations may be as much as a factor of 100 lower than similar, nonbuoyant releases. For the Oak Ridge Reservation, safety analyses often examine buoyant release accident scenarios and resulting downwind, ground-level consequence estimates. For these analyses, careful consideration of buoyant plume rise is important. Plume rise can be limited by a stable vertical atmospheric temperature profile, commonly called an inversion, where the air temperature increases with height. There is a concern that inversions may interact with the complex terrain on the Oak Ridge Reservation, particularly at the Y-12 Plant, which is located in a relatively shallow but narrow valley, to trap the plume and increase ground-level consequences. The purpose of this paper is to review the available meteorological data that provide information on inversions in the Oak Ridge area

Environmental Resources of Selected Areas of Hawaii: Climate, Ambient Air Quality, and Noise (DRAFT)

This report has been prepared to make available and archive background scientific data and related information on climate, ambient air quality, and ambient noise levels collected during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The US Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice in the Federal Register on May 17, 1994 withdrawing its Notice of Intent of February 14, 1992, to prepare the HGP-EIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. The report presents a general description of the climate and air quality for the islands of Hawaii (henceforth referred to as Hawaii), Maui, and Oahu. It also presents a literature review as baseline information on the health effects of hydrogen sulfide. the scientific background data and related information is being made available for use by others in conducting future scientific research in these areas. This report describes the environmental resources present in the areas studied (i.e., the affected environment) and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts

Environmental resources of selected areas of Hawaii: Climate, ambient air quality, and noise

This report has been prepared to make available and archive background scientific data and related information on climate, ambient air quality, and ambient noise levels collected during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The US Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice withdrawing its Notice of Intent to prepare the HGP-EIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. The report presents a general description of the climate add air quality for the islands of Hawaii (henceforth referred to as Hawaii), Maui and Oahu. It also presents a literature review as baseline information on the health effects of sulfide. The scientific background data and related information is being made available for use by others in conducting future scientific research in these areas. This report describes the environmental resources present in the areas studied (i.e., the affected environment) and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts

Data from: High Accuracy 14C Measurements for Atmospheric CO2 Samples from the South Pole and Point Barrow, Alaska by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was used to obtain 14CO2 measurements from flasks collected at the South Pole and Point Barrow, Alaska, USA, at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography network station (Keeling et al., 1989) (see also http://cdiac.ess-dive.lbl.gov/trends/co2/sio-bar.html). Air samples for years 1985-1991, originally collected in 5-liter flasks, had been stored in Pyrex sealed-off tubes after stable isotope analysis (Roeloffzen et al., 1991). These samples were more or less evenly distributed over time. Typically, the extracted CO2 from 2-5 flasks from consecutive weekly measurements were put together in one flame-off tube. The tubes were broken in the standard inlet arrangement of a dual inlet stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer, and a stable isotope measurement was performed using the same instrument used in the original analyses (Roeloffzen et al., 1991). Then, the CO2 was cryogenically trapped and converted to graphite (Aerts-Bijma et al., 1997). For the majority of the samples the amount of CO2 was sufficient for our regular, 2 mm diameter AMS targets, containing about 1.5 mg of C. For most of these, two targets could be produced from one CO2 flask. In some cases, however, the amount of CO2 was only sufficient for a smaller target. Individual standard samples were graphitized along with the corresponding atmospheric CO2 samples, so that any day to day variability in the graphitization circumstances would be visible in the standard samples. The 14C is reported as ∆14C as per Stuiver and Polach 1977. More information about 14C standards can be found at: http://www.c14dating.com/agecalc.html. More information about sample preparation and analysis at the Groningen AMS can be found at: http://www.rug.nl/ees/onderzoek/programmas/radiocarbonams/sampleTreatmentAms The primary literature reference for the material presented here is Meijer et al. (2006). The statistical analysis included curve fitting described by Cleveland (1979). A seasonal pattern was then fit to the residuals, and the data are given in terms of these trends and departures from them