ML20215K828
| ML20215K828 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/16/1987 |
| From: | Odonnell E NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES) |
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| Shared Package | |
| ML20215G205 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-87-235 NUDOCS 8706250453 | |
| Download: ML20215K828 (39) | |
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r, e 'i The NRC fpride'd piogrse of ren'earch at Maxey Flats was done to ;
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. Assist at, Agreement StaCc trj argessing the performance of.the.
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,isipe. % t program has yielded both site specific insights and i '
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a generic insigtWs which are likely to be useful in liccasicg (
- / future sites. ,They arE as follows--
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SINSPEd.iSIC IN5% HTS: (1) The principal. pathway of water entry ~
'j ~- f (into ;becial trenches syJaxev Flats sis throughr the trench caps. l
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l (2) Sempy,ng of vegetation, soiAs, and streams adjoining the site ind i ca t e:: tha* t?p smail but.measur 6ble imouts of radionuclides found offsite were; r;/ciju'rf ach ginot T)dr,hhe site evaporator.
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(3) Ther %is' ,ymited cdsi,t'e si,bsur'f a ce moveme9t of radionuclides where 1 openfractgresicprsectbegli{ltrenches. I
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(217 byes stier a phais%f means,of monitoring subsurface rWioau-I clide movehent in'irdh and rockslef Irgpe'kteability. t r ! ',
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r a . i . ;t t (3) Complenhg Mtti EDTA appears to be a potentially irsperust med. -
' anism that' increases 360111ty of sud2 radionuclides as Co-o0,;Pe238, Am-241, and tr-90.' /! h U j x q
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. , [ f (4) Changes in soil solution 'hemistry c enceuntered as, lesc5 ate,so h s.,
f rom trenches generally reduce the solubil'ity' of migrating redirAuclides. ',( 1 (5) Agronomic mana gmeat techni, ques appear \ promising as a'means to-control deep water percolation through vaste burial trench caps.
INTRODUCTION NRC funded resesrch at. the Maxey- Flat's Disposal' Facility (MFDF) began
,, in the mid 1970's when'Brookhaven National Laboratory _ undertook an investi-gation of the source ' term at consnercial shallow land burial sites. At
'. ' about the same time Los Alamos National Laboratory collected representative soils from a number of locations throughout the United Stat'Es for.an 'inves-tigation on the effects of soils on radionuclide migration. Maxey Flats j i
was one of the places sampled for that study. -In 1979 the State made a: 1 w
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specific request to NRC for assistance in determining the extent of radio-nuclide movement at the site and the mechanisms which might control move-ment. This request was prompted by the detection of Co-60 and Mn-54 in a
, seep within newly opened trench 46. The presence of these radionuclides j pointed to localized radionuclide movement within the site boundary. In l
- addition, low but measureable amounts of radionuclides had been measured l
, in the colluvium downhill from the disposal facility and in streams border- l ing these slopes.
J To assist an Agreement State, NRC's Office of Nuclear Regulatory l Research formulated a research program to address Kentucky's needs. That I program has focused on water entry into burial trenches, characteristics j of the Maxey Flats trench leachate, the geochemical controls on radionu- i clide migration through Maxey Flats soils and the use of vegetation for detection of migration. The NRC research program has provided the State with site specific infermation that it can use in its assessment of site a performance as well as for formulation of a site closure plan. In addition l the research is providing generic insigLts on how the geologic environment j acts to attenuate radionuclide migration from water filled SLB trenches where the radionuclides are chelated. The research is also yielding useful information on methods which can be used for monitoring site performance in f ractured media of low primary permeability. Vegetation has proven to be particularly effective in this case.
DESCRIPTION OF NRC MAXEY FLATS RESEARCH PROGRAM Experimental Areas Several experimental areas were established at Maxey Flats (see Figure 3). At the southwest corner of the restricted area an experimental trench was constructed adjacent to trench 27. The trench was divided into 5 subsections which used different cap designs. Porous caps, inert sampl-ing wells and organic tracers were used to measure water and radionuclide movement and performance of the trench caps. The University of Arizona, -
. University of California Berkeley (UCB), Brookhaven National Laboratorf '
(BNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Pacific Northwest I4 bora-tory (PNL) cooperated on the experiments. Another experimental area sas ;
established near trench 19-S. Porous cups and electrical resistance devices were used to measure water entry into trench 19-S and the exit of I water carrying radionuclides from that trench. UCB, LANL, and BNL worked in this experimental area. At the northwest corner of the restricted area l UCB has been investigating the control of deep water percolation by agro- ;
nomic management methods'in a series of lysimeters. UCB has also been
,o investigating how tritium in the plant transportation stream might be used i to determine trench boundaries and to detect joints and local sources
(" leakers") of tritium with trenches. This is being done in test plots near trenches 31, 32, 33 at the southeast end of MFDF and along the north-
, western fence line. Finally PNL has been sampling the forest surrounding HFDF. A number of maple trees have been tagged and sampling is being done seasonally.
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Participating organizations and their involvement i j
l NRC and its contractors were able to build upon research investiga-
, tions performed by the State, Contractors to the State, the U.S. Environ- ) 1 mental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey. For a summa ry l of that work as well as the site's characteristics and operating history {
^ the reader is referred to Clancy, Gray, and Oztunali (1981), and Zehner !
., (1983).
The following organizations were funded by NRC to participate in j research at Maxey Flats. Individual investigators are too numerous to men- i tion here but their work is much appreciated. Papers by several of them J
- q. are found elsewhere in this volume and selected published reports which {
explain in depth their work,are cited below.
Brookhaven National Laboratory -- Characterization of trench leachate chemistry and the effect of the geochemistry of the media surrounding the ;
burial trenches on the leachate. (See paper by R. Dayal on " Geochemical' '
investigations at shallow land burial sites" elsewhere in this volume, also j Pietrazak et al. 1982, Weiss and Czyscinski, 1981.)
Commonwealth of Kentucky -- Investigation of surface run off and stream flow at Maxey Flats.
Geo-Centers, Inc. -- Assessment of ground penetrating radar for detect- ,
ing SLB trenches. Detailed information is to be found in Horton and Morey, 1 (1982). I Laboratory of Nuclear Medicine UCLA -- Assessment of the character-istics of radionuclides and soils which govern uptake by plants. (See 4 4
Wallace et al. 1979 and 1980.)
Los Alamos National Laboratory -- Assessment of the effect of the '
soils at Maxey Flats on radionuclide migration. (See Folzer et al. 1981 and 1982.)
Pacific Northwest Laboratory --
(1) Investigation of the chemical species of migrating radionuclides a at Maxey Flats. (See paper by Kirby and Toste on " Chemical char-acteristics, migration, and fate of radionuclides at commercial SLB sites" elsewhere in this volume.)
(2) Investigation of the use of vegetation for detecting releases of radioactivity to the unrestricted environment at SLB facilities.
(See paper by Rickard and Kirby on " Radionuclides in a deciduous forest adjacent to a commercial SLB site: implications for moni-toring to detect radionuclide migration" elsewhere in this c volume.) i I
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pe (3) Survey of statistical applications. to environmental monitoring.
[1 (See paper by Thomas, Eberhardt, and Skalski on " Survey of statistical and sampling needs,for environmental monitoring of
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commercial LLW disposal facilities" elsewhere in.this volume.)
l University of California, Berkeley -- Investigation o'f water' entry into burial trenches and its management by agronomic means. (See paper by
. Schulz on " Unsaturated Zone Hydrology at Maxey Flats" elsewhere in this q volume; also Schulz 1982.)
University of Arizona -- Investigation of the use of organic tracers to determine water flow directions between burial trenches and an assess-s ment of alternative methods of ensuring trench cap stability. (See paper
>: by McCray elsewhere in this volume. That paper deals with Arizona's most recent work. In 1980 a similar project was done at Maxey. Flats and it is described in Nowatzki et al. 1981.).
RESULTS'0F RESEARCH INVESTIGATIONS Water entry into waste burial trenches (Figure 2)
The waste burial trenches at Maxey Flats,are excavate'd'into media of low hydraulic conductivity (principally shale with a few minor, sandstone beds). Because of this, water entry into the burial trenches has: been a problem of serious concern at Maxey Flats. The water has accelerated. waste package degradation and it represents a potential transport medium for radionuclides.
1 Within a few years of the opening of Maxey Flats in 1963, high water levels in burial trenches caused'the site operator to install an evaporator to-remove excess water from the trenches. Wa,ter levels had been rising in i them and it was thought that unless measures were taken the trenches would overflow ("the bathtub effect"). Even.with an evaporator processing:
1.2 million gallons per year there was an excess of approximately 800,000 gallons accumulating each year. As a temporary . remedial measure the State
, has taken action to reduce water infiltration by covering about'3/4 of the
"- burial trenches with 15 mil PVC. This was done in 1981-82. For the pres-ent the PVC is effective in stopping water infiltration where it hasn't been punctured.
, As to how the water got into b'urial trenches, much'of it entered dur-ing operations when trenches would be open for-long periods of time. Visual, observation showed that water sat there for long periods. LAdditional water entered along.some of the near vertical joints _in the. rocks.and along con-tacts between the shale and' sandstone. Minor seeps of this. vater were occasionally seen when a newly opened' trench:was close to one with a lot of-
, water'in'it. Evidently there is fracture- flow at Maxey Flata and .there ~ is some hydraulic interconnection between. trenches,. as pumpage on some trenches "A produces. drawdown of the water level.in adjoining trenchesy ,It should be
- noted, however, that excavation of- the trenches very likelyiinduced frac-
-., tures in,the trench walls as many= trenches are only a few meters apart (O.
i to 10 meters'is common).
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Several lines of evidence indicate that the volume of ground water moving at Maxey Flats is quite low and that the principal pathway of water entry into burial trenches was through the caps. Addressing first the question of volume, Zehner (1983) using fracture spacing data and baseflow e in ~ streams adjoining Maxey Flats estimated that about 0.01 cm of the aver-age rainf all of 115 cm that falls on Maxey Flats passes through the bed- )
. rock and discharges to the streams. This is an exceedingly small amount i and it suggests that if water were to get into a burial trench it will hardly get out. This is confirmed by what has happened since installation j of the PVC cover over the burial trenches. If the trenches were free j draining water levels would drop. Generally this is not the case. In a j few cases they have risen. Apparently where the PVC is punctured it acts I as a one-way valve. Water enters but doesn't exit. Addressing the second I question of whether the trench caps serve as a pathway for water entry, i two experiments were conducted. The University of Arizona placed organic j tracers on top of the cap of the experimental trench near the southwest I side of KFDF. Within a short time the organic tracers were detected in )
the experimental trench and adjacent trench 27. Thus the tracer migrated !
through the cap into the experimental trench ano then into trench 27. UCB and LANL working cooperatively installed soil moisture devices and porous ,
sampling caps in two different experimental areas. One was the experi- l mental trench at the southwestern corner of KFDF adjacent to trench 27 where aver 35 sampling points were established. The other was next to an older trench (19-S) which had been closed 12 years earlier. In this case there were over 89 sampling points. The caps and moisture sensors were j implanted on the trench caps and adjacent to the trenches. Data collected between 1980 and 1983 indicate that the principal mode of water entry was through the trench cap and that lateral movemen* through the sediment sur-rounding the trenches was very slow (see Schulz 1982 for details).
l The implications of this for future SLB sites is that some provision {
must be made to allow burial trenches to drain should trench caps fail or l if there is some other unplanned entry of water into burial trenches. The I artificial lining of trenches at a future site with permeable media may i lead back to conditions similar to Maxey Flats unless provision is made to !
allow for drainage.
Water management by agronomic methods The evaporator provides some clues as to the amount of water infil-trating the trenches. To keep them dry, the evaporator would have to process about 2 million gallons / year of water (in actual operation it was about 1.2 million gallons with an unprocessed backlog of'about 800,000 gallons / year). The 2 million gallons are distributed over about 25 acres of burial trenches. This represents about 3 inches of precipitation which infiltrates into the burial trench area. Because of the low hydraulic con-ductivity of the materials at Maxey Flats what appears to be a modest amount of infiltrating water presents a major problem. There are a variety of methods for controlling the amount of infiltrating water. The evapora-1 tor and the PVC covers are two means. The first is expensive and the latter must be over 99% effective or trenches will fill with water. These .
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considerations led to an experiment using agronomic management methods to )
control water percolation beyond the root zone of plants. This is being j conducted by UCB in a series of lysimeters at the northwest edge of MFDF. I The idea is that although one can't control rainfall, runoff can be pro- !
moted by proper slopes, drains, and covers (see Figure 4). In addition, j if vegetation were used optimally then evapotranspiration can be promoted. 1 At MFDF as simple a thing as increasing the amount of line applied (from !
4 tons / acre as is traditionally done by the local farmers to 14 tons / acre) I to the soil 'to " sweeten" it should raise the amount of water transpired. j The combination of vegetation and site engineering may be an effective way of controlling water entry into burial trenches in humid regions.
Characteristics of Maxey Flats trench leachate l
A considerable amount of work has been done.by Brookhaven National . ,
Laboratory on trench leachate chemistry at existing commercial shallow land 1 buried facilities. For a more detailed exposition of their work see the paper by Dayal elsewhere in this volume on " Geochemical investigations at shallow land buri al sites" and the papers by Weiss and Czyscinski 1981, and Pietrzak et al. ,1982. ;
The composition of the trench leachate is quite complex because of the mixture of materials buried and the fact that they were in contact with water for a long time. The fact that the waste was not solidified and the presence of decontamination reagents containing co::rplexing substances in -
some containers has resulted in considerable amounts of several radionu-clides (Sr-90, Cs-137, Pu) accumulating in the trench leachate. Biodegra-dation of waste has led to the additional formation of various organic j complexes. In spite of these complexities a number of generalizations can be made:
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- 1. The source terms is highly variable from trench to trench and within any given trench.
- 2. The leachate is anoxic.
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- 3. The leachate has high alkalinity. i
- 4. The leachate has a high concentration of radionuclides with tritium being the most common one.
- 5. The leachate has a concentration of ferrous iron, calcium, and'a complex suite of organic components.
- 6. Trench leachate chemistry enhances radionuclide solubility.
Because of the anoxic conditions plutonium is in the +3 and +4 i
valence state. These forms of plutonium are readily complexed by EDTA and possibly other complexing agents present in decon-taminating solutions. Tbe complexing agenta, together with waste degradation products ine'.uding carboxylic acids, enhance the i solubility of plutonium, Co-60, CS-137, Sr-90 and perhaps other radionuclides.
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1 Geochemical controls on subsurface migration of radionuclides I at Maxey Flats (Figures 5 and 6) j In investigating the role that the site plays in retarding radionu-l clide migration BNL, LANL, and PNL hnve looked at the subject from three ;
differing perspectives. BNL has focused on the overall geochemistry of the I e media surrounding the burial trenctes, LANL has concentrated on the role of soils particularly the solutions in them, and PNL has dealt primarily with the chemical speciation of migratiag radionuclides. The combined work is yielding valuable information on t he tolerance of a site to a potentially mobile source term.
I What subsurface migration there has.been is associated with the very small amounts of groundwater flowing along some joints and occasionally along the contact between some of the shale and sandstone beds. Trying to detect and measure groundwater flow in fractured rocks of low conductivity as exists at Maxey Flats is difficult. Zehner (1983) described 'this problem with the wells drilled at Maxey Flats. Water volumes and flow rates are very low unless a fracture is intersected. The best information available ,
on fracture flow velocity comes not from wells but from the seeps observed j in trench 46 where Co-60 and Mn-54 were found. By using the distance to j the nearest trench and knowing when it was filled the USGS came up with an estimate of 50 feet / year for that case.
BNL, LANL, and PNL have concentrated their on-site investigations in the experimental areas near trenches 27 and 19-S. A closely spaced array of porous cups and inert atmosphere sampling wells have been used to detect radionuclide migration. In the near field very close to the trenches there has been some movement of Pu, Co-60 and Sr-90. However, the volume of water collected in the cups and sampling wells was quite low and radionu-clide concentc;tions declined very drastically as one went away f rom the burial trenches investigated. This is significant because of the chemistry of the trench leachate. Chelating agents such as EDTA and other polar organic compounds have been detected in the KFDF trench leachate. They appear to have complexed with Pu, Co-60 and possibly other radionuclides thus enhancing their ability to migrate. However, when there is migration from a trench the environment changes f rom anoxic toward oxic conditions resulting in a decrease in pH and an increase in Eh accompanied by a series of chemical changes in soil chemistry such as the partial oxidation of ferrous iron to ferric iron. These changes affect the chemical speciation of the radionuclides, thus affecting their migration rates and retention in the sediment at the site. While the full impact of these changes cannot be precisely defined at the present, it appears that plutonium retention by the soil is substantially enhanced by the transformation to oxic conditions.
Environmental monitoring (Figure 2) l Kentucky has an active monitoring program in which water and sediment samples are collected f rom streams bordering NFDF. Water is also collected periodically from wells within the restricted area and immediately adjacent to it. Surface gamma-ray surveys to detect contamination were done by 1
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Dames and Moore and PNL (see Kirby,1982). Results of the gamma-ray surveys confirmed that surface contamination was confined largely to the restricted a i 4;7 area. Slightly elevated levels of Co-60 were found in drainage channels.on 'I the east, south, and west sides of the site. At a 100 meters from the fence concentrations were down to world background levels. Soil sampling l indicates that the contamination is a surface feature and it is unlikely to i S
be derived from groundwater flow. l Because of the nature of the rocks at Maxey Flats (sediments with low hydraulic conductivity that have fracture flow) the monitoring of ground-water flow has been difficult. The site operator and the USGS installed a number of vertical monitoring wells. Flow rates in them were very low except where f ractures. were encountered. Horizontal or inclined wells j
. would intercept more fractuces but because of the steep hillsides at KEDF . i that would be an expensive undertaking. Zehner (1983) proposes. putting in monitoring wells in the colluvium which covers the hillsides bordering MFDF. The colluvium would act as an integrator of water from many differ- 1 ent beds and fractures.
Two of the NRC funded projects have been assessing the use of vegeta- J tion for detecting subsurface radionuclides. Since plants and especially I deep rooted trees seek water, sampling of vegetation may prove to be a ve'ry ]
effective method of monitoring (1) in the unsaturated zone (2)'in media where groundwater flow rates are low, or (3) in fractured ^.dia. 'UCB has l beer; working on the quantification of H-3 in the plant transpiration stream ;
of the grass planted at Maxey Flats in plots of grass near trenches 31, ~32, and 33. Preliminary results suggest that H-3 in the transpiration stream j of that grass can be used for locating trench boundaries and possibly 1
" leakers" in a trench. (This work is reported on'elsewhere in this volume ']
by Schulz.) PNL has been assessing how vegetation can be used for post. j closure monitoring and much of their work is directed towards the use of j trees as biomonitors. In this work PNL is looking at: (1) which compo ' :l nents of an ecosystem are effective biomonitors; (2) the sample collection l frequency and intensity needed to detect contamination derived.from an SLB -j facility; (3) ecological pathways by which contaminants may be transported j from an SLB facility to the unrestricted environment;;and (5) how to address 3 seasonal and environmental variation in a sampling program. . (For further details see the papers by Thomas, Eberhardt, and Skalski on Sampling-and-
, the paper on Monitoring by Richard elsewhere in this volume.) Through the sampling of tree leaves and sap PNL bas beenJable'to locate one veryfsmall area on the hillside below the HFDF restricted area'where there are ele-vated levels of H-3. This was'found at.the end of'this' year's particularly-dry summer when trees were seeking water deep beneath the' ground. Consider- ,
ing the fractured nature of the rocks at Maxey Flats sma11' seeps are'not unexpected on the hillsides. . Finding them by visual inspection has been very' dif ficult and it is unlikely that this seep would have been detected.
by other means. 4
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SUMMARY
AND CONCLUSIONS Future SLB facilities in humid regions will differ from KFDF in a few key ways. Siting will lead towards well drained sites in which water
,. should not accumulate in burial trenches. Waste package requirements will lead to waste segregation, improved packaging, and emplacement to ensure stability. Facility design will emphasize trench cap stability and keep-ing water away'from the waste package. Although MFDF is likely quite dif ferent f rom future SLB facilities it provides useful insights on what l might happen if there is premature vaste package dagradation and on the effect of soils for retarding radionuclide migt. J72. In trying to address some of MFDF's problems such as water management and the monitoring of minute amounts of radioactivity in a f racture flow regime, the NRO funded research program is developing information which would be useful for manag-ing and regulating future SLB , facilities in humid regions.
Recapitulating then there was abundant leachate in almost all the KFDF burial trenches. The trench environment is anoxic and the chemistry of any
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given sample is quite complex and to complicate matters further the chemis- I try varies drastically from one end of a burial trench to the other. H-3 l is the most abundant radionuclide in the leachate. The presence of decon-tamination material, and other organic complexing agents resulted in radio-nuclides such as Pu, Sr-90, Co-60, Mn-54 being in solution. However, where they were able to migrate from burial trenches the change in geochemical conditions from anoxic to more oxic conditions brought about a series of changes which worked towards retarding radionuclides. For example Pu EDTA complex, whi.ch was identified in Trench 19-S, in moving from the trench ;
reacts with Fe contained in soil water within the unsaturated zone. The Fe competes with Pu for the EDTA and the Pu is bound up by the soil. This situation indicates a high tolerance of an SLB site for a potentially mobile I source term. The general applicability of this observation needs to be !
tested at other contaminated sites where radionuclides have been in contact j with the soil for many years. l l
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Water entry into the MFDF burial trenches is a matter of serious con-cern because the water has accelerated waste package degradation and when the water is present in excessive amounts it may serve as a pathway for radionuclide migration. Through the use of porous cups and moisture sen-sors implanted on trench caps and adjacent to two burial trenches it is evident that the main pathway for water entry trenches at KFDF was through the cap. As to how to control water entry into burial trenches Maxey F1 La provides insights applicable to other SLB facilities in humid areas. Onr approach would be to use impermeable engineered covers such as asphalt, concrete, or plastic. However, because of the very low hydraulic conduc-tivity of the strata beneath MFDF any cover like those just mentioned would have to be over 99% effective otherwise it would act as a one way valve.
Water would enter and almost none would exit until the trench overflowed.
An alternative to impermeable engineered covers using agronomic management methods is currently being evaluated in lysimeters at Maxey Flats. Agro-nomic methods would tavolve a combination of engineering (contouring and drains to promote runoff) and vegetation (to promete evapotranspiration).
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j 1 i When it comes time to permanently close an SLB facility a water management w design using vegetation should prcvide a smooth transition to the time -
when active maintainence and institutional controls are' removed. l J
Finally the monitoring of minute amounts of radioactivity .in a frac-j ture flow regime is difficult using conventional monitoring wells. Robert Schulzs (UCB) work with H-3 in the plant transpiration stream of grass - i; and William Richard's (PNL) work with tree sap and leaves in the forest c~
bordering MFDF promise an effective adjunct to monitoring wells. The vegetation seeks water, it is an integrator of what is there, and .it is readily sampled. To ensure that the right data is collected in the right j amount and.in the right place, Lee Eberbardt, John Thomas, and John . 1
- , Skalski . (PNL) have been assessing the application of statistics to .the environmental monitoring of SLB facilities.
'7 SELECTED REFERENCES Clancy,l J.J. , D.F. Gray, and. 0.I . Oztunali, 1981, . " Data' Base for Radio '
active Waste Mana'gement--Review of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal: ;
History," NUREG/CR-1759, Vol. 1, pp. 3-1 to'3-20. 1 1
Cleveland, Jess M. , and Terry F. Rees, 1981,." Characterization of Pluto- 'l nium in Maxey flats Radioactive Trench Leachates," Science, Vol. 212, j June 26, 1981, pages 1506-09. I Kirby, L.J. ,1981, " Chemical Species .of Migrating .Radionuclid'es at Maxey Flats and Other Shallow Land-Burial Sites," In: Research Program at Maxey Flats and Considr. ration of Other Shallow Land Burial Sites,-NUREG/CR-1832, ]
PNL-3510, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., March j981.
I Kirby, L.J., 1982, " Areal Distribution of Radionuclides at Maxey.F'lats," 1 In: Radionuclide Distributions and Migrati'on Mechanisms at Shallow Land Burial Sites, NUREG/CR-2383, PNL-4067, -U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., July 1982, pp. II-1 to 17.
Kirby, L.J. , C.W. Thomas, A.P. , Toste and C.L. Wilkerson, :1982, " Chemical' Species of Radionuclides at Maxey Flat," In: Radionuclide Distributions and Migration Mechanisms at Shallow Land Burial Sites,- NUREG/CR-2383, PNL-4067, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. , July 1982, pp. I-1 to 27. j
, Nowatzki, E.A., and G.M. Thompson, and M.E. Wacks,'1981, U' of-Arizona, '
" Trench Cap Tracer Studies," NUREG/CR-1832 3 U.S. Nuclear. Regulatory Commis- l sion, Washington, DC. , pp. IX-1 to 7.
Pietrzak, R.F. , K.S. Czyscinski, . and ' A.J. Weiss ,1982, Brookhaven National Laboratory, ." Evaluation of Isotope Migration-Land Burial Water Chemistry .
'. y 'at Commercially Operated Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites',: Status '
y 3.
Report,;0ctober 1980-September 1981," NUREG/CR-2616, BNL-NUREG-51514.
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Pietrzak, R.F. , R. Dayal, M.T. Kinsley, J. Clinton, K.S. Czyscinski, ar;d A.J. Weiss, " Trench Water Chemistry at Commercially Operated Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites," in Proceedings of the 1982 Annual Meet-ing of the Materials Research Society, Boston, MA (in press).
I Polzer, W.L., E.H. Essingcon and E.B. Fowler, 1981, " Migration of Waste i Radionuclides Through Soils at Maxey Flats, KY," In: Research Program at )
Maxey Flats and Consideration of Other Shallow Land Burial Sites, NUREG/ j CR-1832, PNL-3510, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. , !
March 1981, pp. V1-1 & V1-11.
l Polzer, W.L. , E.B. Fowler and E.H. Essington, 1982, " Potential for Migra-tion of Waste Radionuclides at the Maxey Flats, KY Shallow Land Burial ?
Site," In: Radionuclide Distributions and Migration Mechanisms at Shallow i Land Burial Sites, NUREG/CR-2383, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Connission, l Washington, D.C., July 1982, V-1 to 24.
Rickard, W.H., L.J. Kirby and M.C. McShane, 1981, "Radioecology Studies at j Maxey Flats, Kentucky: Radionuclides in Vegetal Samples," In: Research j Program at Maxey Flats and Consideration of Other Shallow Land Burial j Sites, NUREC/CR-1832, PNL-3510, U.S. Nuclea r Regula tory Commission, Washington, D.C., March 1981, pp. V-1 to V-9. !
Rickard,'W.H., L.J. Kirby and M.C. McShane, 1982, "Radioecology of the Maxey ;
Flats Site," In: Radionuclide Distributions and Migration Mechanisms at Shallow Land Burial Sites, NUREG/CR-2383, PNL-4067, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory !
Commission, Washington, D.C., July 1982, pp. III-I to 14.
Schulz, R.K., 1982, " Study of Unsaturated Zone Hydrology at Maxey Flats,"
In: Radionuclide Distributions and Migration Mechanisms at Shallow Land Burial Sites, NUREG/CR-2383, PNL-4067, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., July 1982, pp. VI-1 to 16.
Schulz, R.K., 1982. " Study of Unsaturated Zone Hydrology at Maxey Flats,"
in Preceedings of Fourth Annual Participants Information Meeting, DOE LLW Management Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL/NFW-82-12, pages 423-436.
Wallace, A., E.M. Romney, R.K. Schulz, H. Nishita, 1979, " Biological Trans-port of Radionuclides at Low-Level Waste Storage Sites -- Annual Report October.1977 - September 1978," NUREG/CR-07101, 121 pp.
Wallace, A. , E.M. Romney, R.K. Schulz, H. Nishita , D.J. Herman, 1960,
" Vegetational Cover in Monitoring and Stabilization of Shallow Lanc' Burial l Sites -- Annual Report October 1978 - September 1979," NUREG/CR-1358, I 172 pp.
Weiss, A.J. , and K.S. Czyscinski, and R.F. Pietrzak,1981, Brookhaven National Laboratory, " Trench Water-Soil Chemistry and interactions at the Maxey Flats Site-II," NUREG/CR-1862, BNL-NUREG-51315, pp IV-1 to 23.
.. )
(
-t 264
~
j l
Zehner, Harold, H., 1983, "Hydrogeologic Investigation of the Maxey Flats ..
Radioactive Waste Burial Site, Fleming County, Kentucky," U.S. Geological '
Survey, Open File Report,83-133, 148 pp.
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(contour int. 20 ft., hori::. ccale 1" = 2667') j Figure 1. The Maxey Flats Disposal Facility is located on.the top of an -
isolated plateau in northeastern Kentucky. The plateau is about .i 90 to 122 meters above the surrounding valleys. -It is underlain ,)
by relatively impermeable shales, mudstones, and sandstones of Middle Paleozoic Age.
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i Figure 2. Idealized cross section of Maxey Plats The disposal trenches
' are excavated through weathered rock (regolith)'and reworked material into the Nancy Shale Member of the Borden Formation (Mississippian Age).
There is fracture flow along the near vertical joints shown and.-along= 4 the interface of the shale and sandstone. Because 'of the low hydraulic conductivity at Maxey Flats monitoring wells contain little water. unless #w ,
l they intersect a fracture. V,3getation promises 'to be 'an effective b '* '
adjunct to monitoring wells in this situation since plants seek the, -
water present.
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f Figure 3, Location of the Maxey Flats waste burial trenches and the areas where the NRC funded projects were conducted. Not marked is the forest where environmental monitoring was done using vegetation. It-falls beyond the edge of the diagram. -
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Cwer Figure 4. Agronomic water management techniques which might be used to control' deep water percolation through trench caps. .Since rainfa11'can't be' !
controlled a combination of vegetation .(to promote.evapotranspiration).
- slopes (to promote runoff), and covers (either vegetation or impermeable
- materials sinb as asphalt, concrete fibreglass or plastic to limit in-filtration) would be used. ' Note that in the b'ottom example the vegetation
'~~
would be stressed because of.the. paucity'of infiltrating water.. If there-
,.3 were any premature l failure of the impermeable cover plant' roots would : -
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actively seek water
- passing through it.
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- i Figure 5. Location of areas within the restricted area at Maxey Flats 3 where radionuclides were observed to migrate with ground water. Except for H-3 the evidence available to date indicates that radionuclides have i not moved off-site in ground water. j f~m,v
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,, , small when compared with'the volume of the trench leachate. An analogy-can be made with the Goodyear Blimp which accumulates about 40 bullet holes per year. The width of. the holes is small compared to the volume of helium in the Blimp. So it is with Maxey Flats. The volume of' leach -
ate in burial trenches is large but the openings (interconnected unhealed fractures) available for migration are not ma'ny. Therefore subsurface leakage from burial trenches is minimal and apparently the soil acts -
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. mentaltrenchdugadjacenttooneof In groundwater charted the original waste trenches and from .
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_ _M ! T six wells established around the ex- r~ '
""' '1 perimental The site.
samples were subjected to a 4 f4a :[ M l f.\- d
@, n i M ! survey analysis to identify the pres-
_6% * - l ence of likely organic chelators. j When such compounds,were identi- Birth defects in humans and animals, The role of organic chelators in the fied, the researchers concentrated the especially in northern Californil subsurf ace migration of radionu- l sample and subjected it to steric ex- the Pacific Northwest, have bee? clides, particularly plutonium, from ( clusion fractionation on ablamed Sephadex on exposure of pre 6nant women to phenoxy herbicides used a shallow radioactive waste ifof burial ' colu$mn. anic compounds usingThegas in fracnons were forests in those analyzed regions, notes j site was described to a symposium chromatography / mass spectrometry chemist Donald G. Cros i sponsored Chemistry, by the Division of Nuclear and for radionuclides using standard partment That role has not received,ade- procedures for specific elements, ogy at the University of California, They discovered that plutonium Davis. However, Crosby suggests,it , quate radionuclide attention migration, in according previoustostudies of complexed with ethylenediamine- would be wise to looj
} tetraacetic acid (EDTA) had migrated i Anthony P. Toste, an organic ana- from the waste trench into sur- the cause-specifically, in the mothers' diets,
. lytical chemist at Battelle Northwest rounding groundwater. Only water In a presentation before the Divi-
, Laboratory, Richland, Wash. Toste from one of the sampling wells was sion of Pesticide Chem and Battelle coworkers Lynn J.Kirby contaminated, leading Toste to the ;
and T. Randy Pahl analyzed conclusion that migration proceeds explained that birth defects are groundwa:er samples frorn the i. along fractures rather than generally common in domestic animals e- shallow-land waste burial site at through the soil. "It is not a wave of particular, a deformity called se l%. _ Maxey Flats. Kv. That site has been radionuclides and organics coursing calf disease, defects in the calf's forelimbs, spine, id closea since 1977. Previous research through the soil /' he says. indicates that the waste trenches at and skull,is caused by the mother
.n- The EDTA, Toste speculates, orig- cow's eating lupine plants in early tse the resulting siteseepage have hr.s been led to breached
!c,w level tion and thefrom wastes inated from nuclear disposed decontamina- pregn facilities.
, :ur contamination of groundwater.
.di- Chelators such as EDTA and citrate alkaloid, anagyrine, that has been Plutonium in groundwater often
. iter exists as a strong anionic complex, are used to complexRecently, radionuclidesin Crosby related,linked a babydirec ent Toste says. That isn't surprising be- small spills at such facilities as part of boy born in the back count ex- cause Pu(III) and Pu(IV) are :elatively the cleanup procedure. It is impor- northwestern California was brough tant to note, he says, that "these types to the univenity medical center with ehat
; top true Ef MeNW 6 s -
of disposal practices for decontami-
,]1 nation wastes are no longer andinhands-with severe bone deformities the general ap-t g use." The researchers also have identi- pearance of crooked calf disease.
ition g L. f sand 7 . fied a number of organic chelators . Medical histories and genetic ana
- i. He 7.g' 87f" _E%jg'
'
- that are similar to EDTA but oflower ses indicated that the cause was likely p eie-molecular weight. "Because we don't environmental rather than here
' tation d see other classes of chelators, we're tary.The boy's mother believed th the herbicide 2,4-D was somehow
. ,m the ',' 2 , af fairly certain that these arise from f
, responsible.
on for .g The mother also revealed tlut her jd) some So sortyou of bacterial breakdown povl goats gaveof
~
- 4. One .%
.y g%^MD4 EDTA. don't have a static birth to stillb
' i le, ry of chemicals in the groundwater. !t is formed kids during and after her
. i radi- / constantly changing," he says.
rsearch g Because the migration observed by own pregnancy, and that puppies born to a dog fed the goat's milk uld, in , the researchers appears to be via fractures rather than through the L during pregnancy also were de. n react f-d ._-
/ '
soil, the question of whether chela ' formed. Subsequent examination t gas. "It ' v" t correct l '/ tors assist soil migration of plutoni- showed that the anin.als' . bone deformities were similar to those of topriate ' um remains open, Toste says, and '" crooked"calvesandof thelittleboy. asing or requires further research. Such in-the host
. formation is essential in accurate Loca1 goats'milkisa common foodin '
;a . . ,
modeling of the geochemistry of that region, Crosby says, adding th '
< tys.Such '
j
.ct on the 6d Q*v 1 M waste sites under consideration for rhe child's mother drank it regularly' O tturing her pregnancy.
t licensing. uhich ra- Tosfe: waste migrafton via Iractum o Asm1.1os3 CAEN 37
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