Radionuclides in Ground Water at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho
Knobel LL and Mann LJ. 1988. Radionuclides in Ground Water at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Open-File Report. 88-731. United States Geological Survey
Water samples from 80 wells at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory were sampled and analyzed Results presented. May apply to Big Southern Butte EXPA (Park Expansion Areas). Geographic location:Idaho National Engineering Laboratory site, regional. Sampling for radionuclides in ground water was conducted at the Idaho national Engineering Laboratory during September to November 1987. Water samples from 80 wells that obtain water from the Snake River Plain aquifer and 1 well that obtains water from shallow, discontinuous perched-water body at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex were collected and analyzed for tritium, strontium-90, plutonium-238, -240 (undivided), americium-241, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and potassium-40 –a naturally occurring radionuclide. The ground-water samples were analyzed at the U.S. department of Energy’s Radiological and Environmental Sciences Laboratory at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho. Methods used to collect the water samples and quality assurances instituted for the sampling program are described in detail. Tritium and strontium-90 concentrations ranged from below the reporting level to 80.6 ± 5 x 10 to the -6th and 193 ± 5 x 10 to the -8th uci/mL, respectively. Water from a disposal well at Test Area North – which has not been used to dispose of water waste since September 1972 –contained 122 ± 9 x 10 to the -11th uCi/mL of plutonium-238, 500 ± 20 x 10 to the -11 uCi/mL of plutonium-239, -240 (undivided), 21 ± 4 x 10 to the -11 uCi/mL of americium-241, and 750 ±20 x 10 to the -8th uCi/mL f cesium-137; the presence of these radionuclides was verified be resampling and reanalysis. The disposal well had 8.9 ± 0.9 x 10 to the -7 uCi/mL of cobalt-60 on October 28, 1987, but cobalt-60 was not detected when the well was resampled on January 11, 1988. Potassium-40 concentrations were less than the reporting level in all wells.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Knobel, L; Mann, L
- Date of Issue
- 1988
- Publisher
- United States Geological Survey
- Units
- CRMO
- Keywords
- Aquatic Sciences, Groundwater, Radiation, radionucliotides