Hydrologic Resources Management Program FY 1996 Progress Report

Hydrologic Resources Management Program FY 1996 Progress Report PDF Author:
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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This report presents the results of FY 1996 technical studies conducted by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as part of the Hydrology and Radionuclide Migration Program (HRMP). The HRMP is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) to address the environmental consequences of nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). A priority for the LLNL program is to better characterize the complex near-field environment in order to assess and predict the movement of radionuclides in groundwater. Other participating organizations include the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the University of Nevada, and Bechtel-Nevada. Our FY96 report includes a description of a field program to sample surface and groundwaters along a regional flow path including known recharge and discharge centers off the NTS. This work extends the sampling program described in our FY95 report to secure U.S. Air Force and U.S. Department of Energy lands including the Nellis Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Range and the Tonopah Test Range. We compile fluid data collected from or adjacent to saturated nuclear test cavities (''hot'' wells) including fluids collected from the CHESHIRE (U-20n) and ALMENDRO (U-19V) event cavities. This compilation also includes revised data originally published in our FY95 report which was in error. We report on a collaboration with LANL to investigate the occurrence of gamma emitting radionuclides detected during drilling in the bottom of the subsidence crater produced by the 1962 HYRAX (U-3bh) event. This work provided a unique opportunity to investigate the transport of volatile radionuclides in the unsaturated zone. Finally, through our participation in the Underground Test Area Operable Unit, we provide initial results of a collaborative study with LANL to investigate the colloidal transport of radionuclides downgradient from a saturated nuclear test cavity. LLNL-HRMP technical studies emphasize measurement of the occurrence, distribution, release, and transport of radionuclides away from underground nuclear test centers. We rely heavily on LLNL's expertise in science based stockpile stewardship, nuclear weapons testing, radiochemical diagnostics, nuclear test phenomenology, mass spectrometry, aqueous geochemistry and field and laboratory studies of radionuclide migration to these ends. In the face of steep reductions in the HRMP budget, LLNL will continue to collaborate with other program participants in near-field radiochemical and regional isotope hydrology studies.

Hydrologic Resources Management Program FY 1996 Progress Report

Hydrologic Resources Management Program FY 1996 Progress Report PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
This report presents the results of FY 1996 technical studies conducted by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as part of the Hydrology and Radionuclide Migration Program (HRMP). The HRMP is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) to address the environmental consequences of nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). A priority for the LLNL program is to better characterize the complex near-field environment in order to assess and predict the movement of radionuclides in groundwater. Other participating organizations include the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the University of Nevada, and Bechtel-Nevada. Our FY96 report includes a description of a field program to sample surface and groundwaters along a regional flow path including known recharge and discharge centers off the NTS. This work extends the sampling program described in our FY95 report to secure U.S. Air Force and U.S. Department of Energy lands including the Nellis Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Range and the Tonopah Test Range. We compile fluid data collected from or adjacent to saturated nuclear test cavities (''hot'' wells) including fluids collected from the CHESHIRE (U-20n) and ALMENDRO (U-19V) event cavities. This compilation also includes revised data originally published in our FY95 report which was in error. We report on a collaboration with LANL to investigate the occurrence of gamma emitting radionuclides detected during drilling in the bottom of the subsidence crater produced by the 1962 HYRAX (U-3bh) event. This work provided a unique opportunity to investigate the transport of volatile radionuclides in the unsaturated zone. Finally, through our participation in the Underground Test Area Operable Unit, we provide initial results of a collaborative study with LANL to investigate the colloidal transport of radionuclides downgradient from a saturated nuclear test cavity. LLNL-HRMP technical studies emphasize measurement of the occurrence, distribution, release, and transport of radionuclides away from underground nuclear test centers. We rely heavily on LLNL's expertise in science based stockpile stewardship, nuclear weapons testing, radiochemical diagnostics, nuclear test phenomenology, mass spectrometry, aqueous geochemistry and field and laboratory studies of radionuclide migration to these ends. In the face of steep reductions in the HRMP budget, LLNL will continue to collaborate with other program participants in near-field radiochemical and regional isotope hydrology studies.

Hydrologic Resources Management Program. FY 1995 Progress Report

Hydrologic Resources Management Program. FY 1995 Progress Report PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Laboratory and Field Studies Related to the Hydrologic Resources Management Program. Progress Report, October 1, 1995--September 30, 1996

Laboratory and Field Studies Related to the Hydrologic Resources Management Program. Progress Report, October 1, 1995--September 30, 1996 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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This report describes the work done at Los Alamos National Laboratory in FY 1996 for the Hydrologic Resources Management Program funded by the US Department of Energy/Nevada Operations Office. Despite declining financial support we have been able to maintain a significant analytical effort because the Underground Test Area Operable Unit at the Nevada Test Site has drilled several wells adjacent to cavities produced by nuclear tests. We measured the radionuclide content in groundwater samples and rock cores taken from near cavities at two sites on Pahute Mesa. At one of these sites we detected plutonium in the groundwater in significant concentrations. Also we detected 137Cs deposition in soils high in a collapsed chimney above the working point at a location in the Low Level Waste Management facility in Area 3 of the Nevada Test Site. We analyzed samples from four wells suspected or known to contain radionuclides. Sampling efforts in wells completed with small-bore tubing or casing continue to be hampered by our inability to adequately purge the well prior to sampling. We presented our work at a number of meetings and published several review articles.

Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites

Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309071860
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
It is now becoming clear that relatively few U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) waste sites will be cleaned up to the point where they can be released for unrestricted use. "Long-term stewardship" (activities to protect human health and the environment from hazards that may remain at its sites after cessation of remediation) will be required for over 100 of the 144 waste sites under DOE control (U.S. Department of Energy, 1999). After stabilizing wastes that remain on site and containing them as well as is feasible, DOE intends to rely on stewardship for as long as hazards persistâ€"in many cases, indefinitely. Physical containment barriers, the management systems upon which their long-term reliability depends, and institutional controls intended to prevent exposure of people and the environment to the remaining site hazards, will have to be maintained at some DOE sites for an indefinite period of time. The Committee on Remediation of Buried and Tank Wastes finds that much regarding DOE's intended reliance on long-term stewardship is at this point problematic. The details of long-term stewardship planning are yet to be specified, the adequacy of funding is not assured, and there is no convincing evidence that institutional controls and other stewardship measures are reliable over the long term. Scientific understanding of the factors that govern the long-term behavior of residual contaminants in the environment is not adequate. Yet, the likelihood that institutional management measures will fail at some point is relatively high, underscoring the need to assure that decisions made in the near term are based on the best available science. Improving institutional capabilities can be expected to be every bit as difficult as improving scientific and technical ones, but without improved understanding of why and how institutions succeed and fail, the follow-through necessary to assure that long-term stewardship remains effective cannot reliably be counted on to occur. Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites examines the capabilities and limitations of the scientific, technical, and human and institutional systems that compose the measures that DOE expects to put into place at potentially hazardous, residually contaminated sites.

Site Characterization Progress Report

Site Characterization Progress Report PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Radioactive waste disposal in the ground
Languages : en
Pages : 856

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Government Reports Announcements & Index

Government Reports Announcements & Index PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 960

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The Office of Environmental Management Technical Reports: A Bibliography

The Office of Environmental Management Technical Reports: A Bibliography PDF Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428918744
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
The Office of Environmental Management's (EM) technical reports bibliography is an annual publication that contains information on scientific and technical reports sponsored by the Office of Environmental Management added to the Energy Science and Technology Database from July 1, 1994 through June 30, 1995. This information is divided into the following categories: Focus Areas, Cross-Cutting Programs, and Support Programs. In addition, a category for general information is included. EM's Office of Science and Technology sponsors this bibliography.

Laboratory and Field Studies Related to the Hydrologic Resources Management Program. Progress Report, October 1, 1992--September 30, 1993

Laboratory and Field Studies Related to the Hydrologic Resources Management Program. Progress Report, October 1, 1992--September 30, 1993 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description
This report describes research done at Los Alamos in FY 1993 for the Hydrologic Resources Management Program. The US Department of Energy funds this research through two programs at the Nevada Test Site (NTS): defense and groundwater characterization. Los Alamos personnel have continued to study the high-pressure zone created in the aquifer under Yucca Flat. We analyzed data from a hole in this area (U-7cd) and drilled another hole and installed a water monitoring tube at U-4t. We analyzed water from a number of locations on the NTS where we know there are radionuclides in the groundwater and critiqued the effectiveness of this monitoring effort. Our program for analyzing postshot debris continued with material from the last nuclear test in September 1992. We supported both the defense program and the groundwater characterization program by analyzing water samples from their wells and by reviewing documents pertaining to future drilling. We helped develop the analytical methodology to be applied to water samples obtained in the environmental restoration and waste management efforts at the NTS. Los Alamos involvement in the Hydrologic Resources Management Program is reflected in the appended list of documents reviewed, presentations given, papers published, and meetings attended.

Hydrologic Resources Management Program and Underground Test Area FY 1999 Progress Report

Hydrologic Resources Management Program and Underground Test Area FY 1999 Progress Report PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This report presents the results from fiscal year (FY) 1999 technical studies conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as part of the Hydrology and Radionuclide Migration Program (HRMP) and Underground Test Area (UGTA) work-for-others project. This report is the latest in a series of annual reports published by LLNL to document the migration of radionuclides and controls of radionuclide movement at the Nevada Test Site. The FY 1999 studies highlighted in this report are: (1) Chapter 1 provides the results from flow-through leaching of nuclear melt glasses at 25 C and near-neutral pH using dilute bicarbonate groundwaters. (2) Chapter 2 reports on a summary of the size and concentration of colloidal material in NTS groundwaters. (3) Chapter 3 discusses the collaboration between LLNL/ANCD (Analytical and Nuclear Chemistry Division) and the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) to develop a technique for analyzing NTS groundwater for 99-Technicium (99Tc) using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Since 99Tc is conservative like tritium in groundwater systems, and is not sorbed to geologic material, it has the potential for being an important tool for radionuclide migration studies. (4) Chapter 4 presents the results of secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements of the in-situ distribution of radionuclides in zeolitized tuffs from cores taken adjacent to nuclear test cavities and chimneys. In-situ measurements provide insight to the distribution of specific radionuclides on a micro-scale, mineralogical controls of radionuclide sorption, and identification of migration pathways (i.e., matrix diffusion, fractures). (5) Chapter 5 outlines new analytical techniques developed in LLNL/ANCD to study hydrologic problems at the NTS using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). With costs for thermal-ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) increasing relative to sample preparation time and facility support, ICP-MS technology provides a means for rapidly measuring dilute concentrations of radionuclides with precision and abundance sensitivity comparable to TIMS. (6) Chapter 6 provides results of a characterization study of alluvium collected from the U-1a complex approximately 300 meters below ground surface in Yucca Flat. The purpose of this investigation was to provide information on particle size, mineralogical context, the proportion of primary and secondary minerals, and the texture of the reactive surface area that could be used to accurately model radionuclide interactions within Nevada Test Site alluvial basins (i.e., Frenchman Flat and Yucca Flat).

Strategy for Remediation of Groundwater Contamination at the Nevada Test Site

Strategy for Remediation of Groundwater Contamination at the Nevada Test Site PDF Author:
Publisher: Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers(IEEE)
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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"Prepared through the collaborative efforts of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Center for Research and Technology Development and the Institute for Regulatory Science ... for the Office of Science and Technology of the U.S. Department of Energy"--T.p. verso.