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Languages : en
Pages : 10
Book Description
The potential for the contamination of ground water beneath the Nevada Test Site (NTS) by nuclear testing has long been recognized. The United States has conducted underground nuclear weapons testing at NTS since 1957, and a considerable amount of radioactive material has been deposited in the subsurface by this work. As a part of the U.S. Department of Energy Nevada Operations Office's Underground Test Area Operable Unit (UGTA OP), the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has compiled an inventory of radionuclides produced by underground LLNL weapons tests from 1957 through 1992. It is well known that some groundwater at NTS has been contaminated by radionuclides from weapons testing. Nearly one-third of the nuclear tests were conducted near or beneath the pre-test static water level (SWL). An important responsibility of the UGTA OP is to assess the migration potential of contaminants beneath the NTS and surrounding lands. Except for tritium (3H), which is capable of migration with water as molecular HTO, the ability of radionuclides to migrate significant distances from their source is presently thought to be very low. However, before this potential for migration can be fully assessed, the quantity of existing contaminants must be carefully estimated. The inventory of the radionuclide source term provides an upper limit on the availability of radionuclides for migration. However, an accurate assessment of risk to the public depends on more than an inventory of radionuclides remaining from underground testing. An estimate of the hydrologic source term consisting of radionuclides dissolved in or transported by ground water must compliment the radionuclide source term.
