Radioactive waste disposal sites

Organophosphate ester hydraulic fluid components have also been detected in groundwater near a hazardous waste site (1.7 pg/L tributyl phosphate) (Sawhney 1989) and in surface water from a radioactive waste disposal site (triphenyl phosphate and tributyl phosphate) (Francis et al. 1980). Organophosphate... 

Francis AJ, Iden CR, Nine BJ, et al. 1980. Characterization of organics in leachates from low-level radioactive waste disposal sites. Nuclear Technol 50 158-163. 

Table 1. Sedimentation Rates and Curve Fitting of 210Pb Measurements in Cores Collected at the U. S. Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites Near the Farallon Islands 60 km off San Francisco and at the Hudson Canyon, 350 km off New York City.

By combining the findings of Cacchione, Drake and the results reported here, a coherent model can be proposed to explain the deposition inventory of the radionuclides. The down-canyon current transports large quantities of sediment toward the radioactive waste disposal site at 4000 m. Within the upper canyon, fine material is transported the furthest. Near the mouth of the canyon, sediment erosion of the walls occurs due to the down-canyon currents meeting a proposed opposing on-shore bottom current. The eroded material from the walls is transported and the finer material is deposited in eddies formed where the two currents meet. 

Schell, W. R., and Sugai, S., Radionuclides at the U. S. Radioactive waste disposal site near the Farallon Islands, Health Physics, 39 475-496 (1980). 

To conclude, we see the recent update of the Nagra/PSI data base as a small, but important, step towards completeness and reliability of the large body of thermodynamic data needed to calculate chemical equilibrium in the complex geochemical systems occurring within or in the vicinity of radioactive waste disposal sites. The most important achievement in this exercise was probably the elimination of a conspicuous number of thermodynamic data not supported by experimental evidence or of dubious origin. This sieving procedure resulted in a reduced, but at least transparent and self-consistent data base. Future extensions can now be built on this well-documented basis. 

Dyer, R.S., "Environmental surveys of two deep sea radioactive waste disposal sites using submersibles" in Symposium, Management of Radioactive Waste from the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, IAEA, 317-338, 1976. 

Because radium is present, usually at very low levels, in the surrounding environment, you are always exposed to it and to the small amounts of radiation that it releases to its surroundings. You may be exposed to higher levels of radium if you live in an area where it is released into the air from the burning of coal or other fuels, or if your drinking water is taken from a source that is high in natural radium, such as a deep well, or from a source near a radioactive waste disposal site. 

In addition to processes of the nuclear fuel cycle, release of uranium has been detected in surface water adjacent to a radioactive waste disposal site in Massachusetts (Cottrell et al. 1981). measurements indicated that surface water located adjacent to the waste disposal site had concentrations of up to 155 pCi/L. Additionally, groundwater measurements of and at the disposal site were 4,400 pCi/L and 2,400 pCi/L, respectively. These values were elevated compared to values obtained in a study performed for the EPA (Drury 1981). For the EPA study, a total of 35,000 surface water samples from across the United States were analyzed the average total uranium concentration was 1.1 pCi/L (range 0.01-582 pCi/E). Of these, 28,000 were considered samples of domestic water supplies. In this same study, 55,000 groundwater samples had a total mean uranium concentration of 3.2 pCi/L (range 0.01-635 pCi/L). 

Uranium isotopes have also been used to study local groundwater problems, in particular those related to the mobility of uranium in ground-water near radioactive waste disposal sites and the role of colloids in controlling the subsurface movement of uranium and its decay products (Ivanovich et al., 1988 Short et al., 1988 Suksi et al., 2001 Toulhoat et al., 1996 Hussain, 1995 Gomes and Cabral, 1981). Paces et al. (2002) used extensive measurements of... 

The first accounted only for C02 retention caused by dilution to dissolved inorganic carbon. The second accounted for additional dilution to an adsorbed C phase predicted from C02 -loss experiments. The geochemical models were separately coupled with a two-dimensional, finite-difference model for gas diffusion to simulate the distribution of P C02 in the unsaturated zone near a disposal trench at a low-level radioactive waste-disposal site near Sheffield, Illinois. Comparison of simulated P C02 distribution with onsite data supported the presence of the adsorbed C phase. 

The primary gaseous carrier for transport of C from the low-level radioactive-waste disposal site (lat. 41 20 N, long. 89 47 W), near Sheffield, Bureau County, Illinois is C02 (1). Production of the gas is caused by aerobic microbial decomposition of organic waste buried in waste-disposal trenches. This results in steep gradients in P C02 in undisturbed glacial and eolian sediments adjacent to the site. To collect samples of unsaturated zone gases, nests of gas piezometers were installed along a cross section in boreholes located at distances of 12,29, and 46 m from the end wall... 

Eldridge, J.S., Oakes, T.W., Parsons, D.W. and Fell, R.D. (1982). Radionuclide concentrations in honey and bees near radioactive waste disposal sites. Health Phys. 43,159. 

Leaching from Cementitious Materials Used in Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites... 

Fig. 2. Images of leaching degradation in radioactive waste disposal site.

Solubility phenomena between solid and aqueous phases are treated in the chapters Leaching from cementitious materials used in radioactive waste disposal sites by Kosuke Yokozeki, An evaluation of solubility limits on maximum uranium concentrations in groundwater by Teruki Iwatsuki and Randolf C. Arthur, and The solubility of hydroxyaluminosilicates and the biological availability of aluminium by Christopher Exley. 

McCutcheon, C. 2002. Nuclear reactions, tire politics of opening a radioactive waste disposal site, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM. 

In 1990 the OECD/NEA established a Working Group on the Assessment of Future Human Actions at Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites. This group published its final report in 1995 [11]. The following review is heavily based on this report. Additionally, use has been made of discussions within the Sub-Group on Principles and Criteria for Radioactive Waste Disposal of the International Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Group (INWAC) of the IAEA. 

Pietrzak, R., K.S. Czyscinski, and A.J. Weiss. 1982. Evaluation of isotope migration—land burial Water chemistry at conmiercially operated low-level radioactive waste disposal sites. U.S. National Research Council, Washington, DC. 

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