Evaluation of the Ground Water Contamination Hazard from Underground Nuclear Explosions

Evaluation of the Ground Water Contamination Hazard from Underground Nuclear Explosions PDF Author: Gary Hoyt Higgins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Groundwater
Languages : en
Pages : 30

Get Book Here

Book Description

Evaluation of the Ground Water Contamination Hazard from Underground Nuclear Explosions

Evaluation of the Ground Water Contamination Hazard from Underground Nuclear Explosions PDF Author: Gary Hoyt Higgins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Groundwater
Languages : en
Pages : 30

Get Book Here

Book Description


On Evaluating the Hazards of Groundwater Contamination by Radioactivity from an Underground Nuclear Explosion

On Evaluating the Hazards of Groundwater Contamination by Radioactivity from an Underground Nuclear Explosion PDF Author: Harris B. Levy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Radioactive pollution
Languages : en
Pages : 23

Get Book Here

Book Description


Groundwater Contamination, Volume II

Groundwater Contamination, Volume II PDF Author: Chester D. Rail
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482278952
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Get Book Here

Book Description
Fully updated and expanded into two volumes, the new edition of Groundwater Contamination explains in a comprehensive way the sources for groundwater contamination, the regulations governing it, and the technologies for abating it. This volume discusses aquifer management and strategies for stormwater control and groundwater restoration. A number o

Regional Groundwater Flow and Tritium Transport Modeling and Risk Assessment of the Underground Test Area, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

Regional Groundwater Flow and Tritium Transport Modeling and Risk Assessment of the Underground Test Area, Nevada Test Site, Nevada PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
The groundwater flow system of the Nevada Test Site and surrounding region was evaluated to estimate the highest potential current and near-term risk to the public and the environment from groundwater contamination downgradient of the underground nuclear testing areas. The highest, or greatest, potential risk is estimated by assuming that several unusually rapid transport pathways as well as public and environmental exposures all occur simultaneously. These conservative assumptions may cause risks to be significantly overestimated. However, such a deliberate, conservative approach ensures that public health and environmental risks are not underestimated and allows prioritization of future work to minimize potential risks. Historical underground nuclear testing activities, particularly detonations near or below the water table, have contaminated groundwater near testing locations with radioactive and nonradioactive constituents. Tritium was selected as the contaminant of primary concern for this phase of the project because it is abundant, highly mobile, and represents the most significant contributor to the potential radiation dose to humans for the short term. It was also assumed that the predicted risk to human health and the environment from tritium exposure would reasonably represent the risk from other, less mobile radionuclides within the same time frame. Other contaminants will be investigated at a later date. Existing and newly collected hydrogeologic data were compiled for a large area of southern Nevada and California, encompassing the Nevada Test Site regional groundwater flow system. These data were used to develop numerical groundwater flow and tritium transport models for use in the prediction of tritium concentrations at hypothetical human and ecological receptor locations for a 200-year time frame. A numerical, steady-state regional groundwater flow model was developed to serve as the basis for the prediction of the movement of tritium from the underground testing areas on a regional scale. The groundwater flow model was used in conjunction with a particle-tracking code to define the pathlines followed by groundwater particles originating from 415 points associated with 253 nuclear test locations. Three of the most rapid pathlines were selected for transport simulations. These pathlines are associated with three nuclear test locations, each representing one of the three largest testing areas. These testing locations are: BOURBON on Yucca Flat, HOUSTON on Central Pahute Mesa, and TYBO on Western Pahute Mesa. One-dimensional stochastic tritium transport simulations were performed for the three pathlines using the Monte Carlo method with Latin hypercube sampling. For the BOURBON and TYBO pathlines, sources of tritium from other tests located along the same pathline were included in the simulations. Sensitivity analyses were also performed on the transport model to evaluate the uncertainties associated with the geologic model, the rates of groundwater flow, the tritium source, and the transport parameters. Tritium concentration predictions were found to be mostly sensitive to the regional geology in controlling the horizontal and vertical position of transport pathways. The simulated concentrations are also sensitive to matrix diffusion, an important mechanism governing the migration of tritium in fractured carbonate and volcanic rocks. Source term concentration uncertainty is most important near the test locations and decreases in importance as the travel distance increases. The uncertainty on groundwater flow rates is as important as that on matrix diffusion at downgradient locations. The risk assessment was performed to provide conservative and bounding estimates of the potential risks to human health and the environment from tritium in groundwater. Risk models were designed by coupling scenario-specific tritium intake with tritium dose models and cancer and genetic risk estimates using the Monte Carlo method. Estimated radiation doses received by individuals from chronic exposure to tritium, and the corresponding human health risks at hypothetical point-of-use locations along each of the pathlines were calculated for six potential land-use scenarios. Conservative land-use scenarios were postulated to ensure that the calculated exposures would bound any realistic dose received by individuals. Based on the human-health risk estimates, tritium exposures associated with the HOUSTON and BOURBON pathlines do not present a human health hazard off the Nevada Test Site in the present, the near term, or in the future. However, the estimates show that the TYBO pathline has the greatest potential for off-site release with a projected groundwater discharge at Oasis Valley. Using the most conservative scenario for tritium exposure demonstrates that dose could exceed the 100-mrem/yr limit at locations along the TYBO pathline.

Groundwater Contamination Risk Assessment

Groundwater Contamination Risk Assessment PDF Author: Eric George Reichard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Drinking water
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book Here

Book Description


An Evaluation of Contamination of Ground Water by Underground Nuclear Detonations

An Evaluation of Contamination of Ground Water by Underground Nuclear Detonations PDF Author: Stanley N. Davis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Groundwater
Languages : en
Pages : 50

Get Book Here

Book Description


Groundwater Contamination

Groundwater Contamination PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309034418
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 191

Get Book Here

Book Description
And ConclusionsReferences; III METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL ; 4 Shallow Land Burial of Municipal Wastes; Introduction; Leachate Characteristics; Gas Production; Hydrogeologic Criteria; Unsaturated Flow; Site Size; Water Balance; Trench Covers; Trench Liners; Monitoring; Monitoring Methodology; Verification of Contamination; Conclusions; References; 5 Deep Burial Of Toxic Wastes; Introduction; Methods of Disposal; Advantages and Disadvantages of Deep Burial; A Hypothetical Repository; Hydrogeologic Properties of Rocks at Depth; General Data from Wells and Test Holes; Geochemical Evidence.

Uncertainties Associated with the Definition of a Hydrologic Source Term for the Nevada Test Site

Uncertainties Associated with the Definition of a Hydrologic Source Term for the Nevada Test Site PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 21

Get Book Here

Book Description
The U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) Environmental Restoration Division is seeking to evaluate groundwater contamination resulting from 30 years of underground nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). This evaluation requires knowledge about what radioactive materials are in the groundwater and how they are transported through the underground environment. This information coupled with models of groundwater flow (flow paths and flow rates) will enable predictions of the arrival of each radionuclide at a selected receptor site. Risk assessment models will then be used to calculate the expected environmental and human doses. The accuracy of our predictions depends on the validity of our hydrologic and risk assessment models and on the quality of the data for radionuclide concentrations in ground water at each underground nuclear test site. This paper summarizes what we currently know about radioactive material in NTS groundwater and suggests how we can best use our limited knowledge to proceed with initial modeling efforts. The amount of a radionuclide available for transport in groundwater at the site of an underground nuclear test is called the hydrologic source term. The radiologic source term is the total amount of residual radionuclides remaining after an underground nuclear test. The hydrologic source term is smaller than the radiologic source term because some or most of the radionuclide residual cannot be transported by groundwater. The radiologic source term has been determined for each of the underground nuclear tests fired at the NTS; however, the hydrologic source term has been estimated from measurements at only a few sites.

Groundwater Contamination and Analysis at Hazardous Waste Sites

Groundwater Contamination and Analysis at Hazardous Waste Sites PDF Author: Suzanne Lesage
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9780824787202
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 568

Get Book Here

Book Description
This comprehensive reference describes investigations of the fate of toxic chemicals emanating from hazardous waste sites and contaminating groundwater, discussing the hydrogeochemistry at US, Canadian, Australian, and German sites to reflect the different approaches used around the world.;Written by over 30 international experts in the field, Groundwater Contamination and Analysis at Hazardous Waste Sites: presents case histories spanning 30 years of activities by the United States Geological Survey's Organics in Water project, including studies of pesticide, munition, and wood preservative residues contaminating groundwater; outlines the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SW-846 methods of analysis for groundwater samples taken at hazardous waste sites; details the analytical requirements for qualitative surveys, regulatory compliance, and research programs; examines the use of statistics at site investigations and waste disposal facilities as well as data interpretation techniques such as multivariate plots; covers the application of a portable gas chromatograph in studying a vapor-phase plume of trichloroethylene, giving tips about problems that may lead to variability in the data; and explores dense nonaqueous-phase liquid dissolution using Raoult's law, biotransformation of the dissolved constituents, and their sorption to aquifer materials.;Extensively illustrated with more than 250 figures, tables, and display equations, Groundwater Contamination and Analysis at Hazardous Waste Sites is a practical tool for pollution control and environmental engineers, hydrogeologists, analytical chemists, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines.

Groundwater Vulnerability

Groundwater Vulnerability PDF Author: Boris Faybishenko
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118962192
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 135

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) disaster that occurred in Ukraine on April 26, 1986, was one of the most devastating in human history. Using this as a case study, the AGU monograph Groundwater Vulnerability: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster is devoted to the problem of groundwater vulnerability, where the results of long-term field and modeling investigations of radionuclide transport in soil and groundwater, within the Ukrainian part of the Dnieper River basin (Kyiv region of Ukraine), are discussed. The authors provide a comprehensive review of existing literature on the assessment of groundwater vulnerability and then describe an improved methodology, which is developed based on integration of the methods of hydrogeological zonation and modeling of anomalously fast migration of radioactive contaminants from the land surface toward groundwater. This volume also includes the evaluation of the effect of preferential and episodic flow on transport of radionuclides toward the aquifers and risk assessment of groundwater vulnerability, which can further assist future researchers in developing remediation technologies for improving drinking water quality. Further, this volume sheds light on the consequences of groundwater contamination from nuclear disasters and assists with assessing the risks associated with contamination and developing effective remediation technologies. Volume highlights include discussions of the following: Assessment of groundwater vulnerability to contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Novel analytical results of the 25-year investigations of groundwater contamination caused by Chernobyl-born radionuclides The wealth of data on different modes of radioactive transport in the atmosphere, water, and soils, and along the food chains The hydrogeological and physico-chemical processes and factors in groundwater contaminated zones The applicability of commonly used methods of the evaluation of groundwater vulnerability A unique method of fluid dynamics that involves an anomalously fast migration of contaminants through zones of preferential flow from the land surface toward groundwater Building confidence in the assessment of migration pathways of radionuclides in the biosphere Assessment and prediction of the consequences of the nuclear accident, which can shed light on protection from global nuclear accidents Analogue information for different nuclear waste disposal and environmental projects around the world