ML20197E196

Forwards Draft Paper for Publication, Radioactive Plume from TMI-2 Accident:Xe-133 in Air at Distance of 375 Km

ML20197E196
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	06/20/1979
From:	Wahlen M NEW YORK, STATE OF
To:	Barrett L Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
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ML20197E128	List: ML20197E125 ML20197E189 ML20197E196 ML20197E430
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FOIA-86-185 NUDOCS 7907180015
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Text

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i 4 STATE OF NEW YORK. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

% D TOWER BUILDING

• EMPIRE S'T ATE PLAZA

• ALBANY, N.Y.12201 DIVISION OF LABORATORIES AND RESEARCH David helrod, M.D. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CENTER G. WOLF <aANG FUHS, Dr. act. nat.

DIRECTO R June 20, 1979 Mr. Lake Barret U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Com=ission Washin6t on, D.C. 20555

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Dear Lake:

Thank you very much for the information concerning the release estimates from the Harrisburg accident.

Enclosed you will find a draft of a paper we would like to publish.

Your comments en this subject would be very much appreciated.

Sincerely, h 41 (&rtl( A Martin Wahlen Research Scientict IV (518-474-5719)

Enc.

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Radioactive Plume fro = the Three Mile Island Accident:

133 Xe in Air at a Distance of 375 km

( 933 ~)

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Abstract: The transit of an air mass containing radioactive gas 4

released from the Three Mile Island reactor was recorded in Albany, NY by ceasuring Xe. Two independent techniques identified Xe in a bient air at concentrations as high as 3,900 pci/m3 . The local dose from the passing radioactivity amounted to 0.02 m rem or 0.02 percent of the annual dose from natural sources.

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i We observed the passage of radioactive Xe due to releases from the Three Mile Island reactor through the Albany, NY area from March 29 through April 2, 1979 Following the announcement of the reactor accident and possible releases of fission products into the atmosphere, air samples were collected and were analyzed for Xe (half-life = 5 3 d). We also directly monitored Xe in ambient air through the entire transit period by observing the 81-kev 7-line with an intrinsic planar Ge-detector locared in a low background steel chamber.

1 The experimental procedures employed in the gas analyses of~3:Xe-(l) consisted of collecting 1 to 3 cubic meter of air followed by cryogenic and chromatographic separation of Xe and subsequent analysis of the S-spectrum (Emu = 3h6 kev) by internal gas-proportional counting in low background syste=s.

An intrinsic-Ge diode of 500 mm area with a resolution of 630 eV .

(Wh'M at 81 kev) monitored Xe in ambient laboratory air located inside l a low background steel chamber (dimensions: 3.3 m x 3.3 m x 2.4 m; wall thickness: lb.5 cm) in which outside air was exchanged about 10 times an 133 j hour. During the entire period when Xe was recorded, the thin window was covered with a pressed pellet of lake sediments of a thickness of 0.76 g cm' which reduced the counting efficiency by about 15 percent for 133 Xe. After the transit, the detector was calibrated under the same -

133 conditions with a virtual point source of Xe. The net count rate in the 81-kev photopeak was measured as a function of the angular and radial position of the source over the entire field of view. Integration yielded

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an overall efficiency of 1.03 x lo cpm pCi-1m3air, and the air volume effectively seen by the detector was 10.2 m 3, The results obtained are listed in Table 1 and displayed in Fig. 1.

The errors indicated are + 2 c- (standard deviations) from the combined counting statistics of sample measurements and background determinations.

An additional error of + 5 percent is introduced by calbiration uncertainties.

Lower limits are from 3 c- of the background variation. No excess counts in the 81-kev energy region were present in diode measurements prior to March 28 or after April 3. Aged compressed air samples were processe'd- ~

through the gas separation system as blanks in between Albany air samples.

A small residual activity found after the pmcessing of the higher activity samples did not substantially reduce the sensitivity.

The air cass containing 33 Xe arrived in the Albany area after i March 29,1230 EST and prior to March 30, 1500 EST. A more precise arrival time could not be determined since the diode measurements were integrated over a 2k-hour period. The trailing edge is more sharply defined from the measurement of the air samples. The time behavior shown in the. insert of Fig.1 by the widely spaced air samples is thought to represent the actual trailing edge of the passing air mass. This is evident from the comparison

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of the calculated average activity of 780 pCi m for this period for air i

) samples (Fig. 1, broken line) and the observed average activity of l

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1,060 pCi m from the diode measurement. The observed peak value for the 133xe activity at ground level was 3,900 pCi m -3 for the air sample taken I

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133 late on March 30. Concentrations of Xe for the time period prior to March 30 could have been higher depending on the actual arrival time, because the average value from the diode measurement for the preceding 24-hour interval is 1,390 pci m-3 ,

In order to describe the air mass transport in more detail, the data on release rates from the reactor and the regional meteorological conditions were examined. Measured release rates for Xe fran the

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reactor are not available. Estimated average release rates obtained by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are from indirect '

methods, using thermoluminescence dosimeters in the vicinity of the I

reactor and the dispersion under local meteorological conditions (2).

The estimated time-average release rates for the period of March 28 to April 5 are shown as the lower histogram in Fig. 1. No releases occurred prior to March 28, choo EST.

The regional meteorological conditions were examined using forward (from Middletown, PA) and backward (from Albany, NY) air trajectories provided by the Air Resources Laboratory of the National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (3). The backward trajectories were calculated for a mean transport layer between 300 and 1,500 m above terrain. Forward trajectories were calculated for the same mean transport layer and also for transport at the 950, 900, and 850 mb levels. Inspection of these trajectories shows that for the first release period on March 28, the .

local meteorological conditions at Middletown were rather stagnant with l

medium to low speed winds gradually shifting in direction from SE to SW to .

W and finally toward NW. Winds toward the NE with increased speed prevailed for the period of March 29 to March 31. Mean transport layer forward trajectories for this period do not go through Albany but pass 50 to 100 miles south of Albany. Backward trajectories for concurrent times show that air passing through Albany originates predominantly from regions to the W and NW of Harrisburg. Only the transport trajectories for the 950 mb level indicate a direct connection between Harrisburg and Albany.

In su==ary, it is possible that air arriving at Albany on March'29' contains radioactive gas released from Three Mile Island on March 28, which had been dispersed rather widely around the point of origin. The most probable transit time appears to have been 18 to 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />'s for an approximate actual travel distance of about 500 km. The resulting average wind speed of 6 to 8 m see-1 is co= parable to the observed average wind speed through the mixing

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layer at Albany of ~8.5 m sec for the same period of time (4).

The measured concentration of 133 xe is an order of ma6nitude lower than predicted by extrapolation of the standard plume dispersion model (5). This may be due to either greater vertical and horizontal dispersion as a result of the complex movement of the air mass and/or as a result of the maximum plume concentrations never passing over the Albany area. It is doubtful that the rate of release could be an order of magnitude lower than estimated.

The maximum local dose from the passage of radioactive Xe to an individual is calculated using the average activity values for the respective i

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-11 -1 -1 m3 periods of time and the dose rate of 5.3 x 10 m rem s pci (6) for 133 -2 total body exposure to 7- and S-rays from Xe. This amounts to 2 x 10 m rem,

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which is about 2 x 10 percent of the annual dose from all natural sources.

A search for airborne I found no significant activity. Albany air processed through a charcoal cartridge impregnated with triethylene diamine for the 2h-hour period of highest Xe activity did not contain I to an upper limit of 8 x 10 pCi m -3 . Nor did we observe a measurable increase 5 Kr in air. This is not surprising considering the in the concentration of long half-life of E

Kr (10 years), the lower fission yield, and the sizable -

atmospheric background concentration from atmospheric weapon testing and routine releases by the nuclear industry. .

M. WAHLEN C . O. KUE J. M. MATUSZEK W. E. MAHONEY R. C. THOMPSON Division of Laboratories and Research, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York 12201

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References and Notes

1. C. O. Kunz, Nobel Gases, Proc. Symp., Las Vegas, Nevada, September 1973, CONF-730915, pp. 209-17 C. J. Paperiello, ibid., pp. 239-48.

C. O. Kunz and C. J. Paperiello, Science 192, 1235 (1976).

2. Lake Barret, lac, personal communication, NRC Preliminary Release Estimates.

3 We thank L. Machta, K. Telegadas and J. Heffter from the Air Resources Laboratory of N5AA, Silver Springs, Maryland, for providing us with forward and backward trajectory calculations for the entire time period of interest.

4. R. Taylor, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, personal co==unication.

5 B. D. Turner, Workbook o_f, f Atmospheric Dispersion Estimates, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Cincinnati, Ohio (1969).

6. ICRP Publication 2: Report of Committee II on Permissible Dose for Internal Radiation (1959), Pergamon Press,1960.

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L 133 Xe activity in air (pCi m-3) at Albany, NY Table 1.

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Sa::1ple collection time Air samples Ambient air 4

or period (EST) (gas counting) (Ge diode) l

! before March 30 < 360 i March 29, 1230 - March 30, 1500 1390 1 290 I f March 30, 1500 3120 1 160

) March 30,1545-March 31,Olh5 3900 + 200 1

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March 30, 1900 3530 1 180 5 .

j March 30, 1530 - April 2, 0830 ' 1060 f 180 after April 2 < 360 j

jq March 31, 0900 39 1 4 i

f April 3, 1600 11 3 4 l April 4, 1500 5+2 i

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Legend for Figure Fig. 1. 133xe a:tivity (pci e-3 air) in Albany, NY for end of March and  ;

early April. Lower trace shows the time averaged release estimates (Ci sec~1) obtained from NRO (2). Insert shows detailed values for air I seples and concurrent average values for ambient air (see text).

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