This document has been reviewed and approved by the Technical Steering Panel. muLQ1 144) Date Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project ABSTRACT The Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) Project was established in 1987 to estimate radiation doses that people could have received from nuclear operations at the Hanford Site since 1944. Hanford Site operations began in 1944 to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. This effort included fabricating fuel elements, irradiating the fuel in nuclear reactors, Land separating the resulting plutonium from uranium and fission byproducts.wTo build a foundation for the first step in estimating radiation doses-estimating the amount and type of radioactive materials released to the envi ronment--HEDR staff at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory compi 1 ed and summarized historical information that describes the processes and facil i ties in which radioactive material was generated or used at the Hanford Site. This document categorizes nuclear operations under six processes: fuel fabrication, reactor operations, fuel separations, plutonium finishing, research and development , and tank farms and waste recovery. Hi stori cal emission controls and effluent monitoring are discussed for each process.The time period under study ranges from the startup of nuclear operations in 1944 to the present; this report emphasizes the earlier years from 1944 to the mid-1960s. Timetables are provided for each operation to identify operational periods and major changes that may have affected the release of radionuclides to the environment.Because Hanford Site operations used the first 1 arge-scal e nuclear faci 1 it ies of their kind, process devel opment and effl uent control measures evolved as knowledge about the processes improved. Over the years, facil ities were added or modified to improve processes, accelerate production, and better control emissions to the environment. Changes in each of these areas influenced the quantity and types of radioactive contaminants released to the environment. Separate HEDR documents contain estimates of the quantities of these radioactive contaminants. FOREWORD The appendix t o t h i s document i s a record o f TSP comments and B a t t e l l e ' s responses; the TSP has reviewed and approved Batte77e1s responses t o i t s comments. The comment numbers appear i n the l e f t margin next t o t h e paragraph i n which the corresponding comment was addressed. Changed t e x t i s --shown i n i t a l i c s . I n a d d i t i o n t o TSP comments, some changes were made t o correct e r r o r s o r f o r f u r t h e r c l a r i f i c a t i o n .CONTENTS
Although the listing that follows represents the majority of documents cited in NRC publications It IS not intended to be exhaustive Referenced documents available for inspection and copying for a fee from the NRC Public Docu ment Room include NRC correspondence and internal NRC memoranda, NRC Off ice of Inspection and Enforcement bulletins, circulars, information notices, inspection and investigation notices. Licensee Event Reports, vendor reports and correspondence. Commission papers, and applicant and licensee documents and correspondence The following documents in the NUREG series are available for purchase from the GPO Sales Program formal NRC staff and contractor reports, NRC sponsored conference proceedings, and NRC booklets and brochures Also available are Regulatory Guides, NRC regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issuances Documents available from the National Technical Information Service include NUREG series reports and technical reports prepared by other federal agencies and reports prepared by the Atomic Energy Commission, forerunner agency to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Documents available from public and special technical libraries include all open literature items, such as books, journal and periodical articles, and transactions Federal Register notices, federal and state legislation, and congressional reports can usually be obtained from these libraries Documents such as theses, dissertations, foreign reports and translations, and non NRC conference proceedings are available for purchase from the organization sponsoring the publication cited Single copies of NRC draft reports are available free, to the extent of supply, upon written retjuest 10 the
DISCLAIMER This AbstractPacific Northwest National Laboratory's Facility Effluent Management Program characterized and monitored liquid waste streams from 300 Area buildings that are owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and are operated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.(a) The purpose of these measurements was to determine whether the waste streams would meet administrative controls that were put in place by the operators of the 300 Area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility. This report summarizes the data obtained between March 1994 and September 1995 on the following waters: liquid waste streams from Buildings 306, 320, 324, 325, 326, 327, 331, and 3720; treated and untreated Columbia River water (influent); and water at the confluence of the waste streams (that is, end-of-pipe).Wastewater samples were collected and analyzed for chemicals, radioactivity, and general parameters. In most cases, the concentrations of monitored parameters and constituents were below the limits specified in the waste acceptance criteria for the 300 Area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility. Periodically, levels of cyanide, metals, volatile organic compounds, phthalates, and gross alpha radiation in building effluent samples exceeded the waste acceptance criteria. However, exceedances of the waste acceptance criteria were not observed in any samples from end-of-pipe where the criteria are applicable.Although drinking water standards do not applv to facility wastewater, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant levels were used as an additional reference for evaluating waste stream characterization and monitoring data. Most of the constituents in facility effluents were present in trace concentrations that are below the maximum contaminant levels. However, levels of nitrate and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in samples from end-of-pipe occasionally exceeded the maximum contaminant levels. Sample contamination from plastic tubing is believed to be the source of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate.The characterization and monitoring data obtained during 1994 and 1995 were severely limited because the effluents were sampled only one to four times per month. Nevertheless, the results indicated the levels of contaminants in facility discharges and showed the impact of those discharges on end-of-pipe concentrations. These data were determined to be sufficient to meet the characterization requirement in the 300 Area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility's Liquid Waste Certification Program for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory facilities. iii SummaryLiquid effluent streams from eight US. Department of Energy-owned and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory-operated buildings (306, 320, 324, 325, 326, 327, 331, and 3720), end-of-pipe, and influent in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site were monitored during 1994 and 1995 for six general classes of chemical and radiological parameters. These measurements were made to characterize the waste streams and to determine whether the waste streams met a list of waste acceptance criteria ...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.