Assembly, operation and disassembly of the Battelle Large Volume Water Sampler (BLVWS) are described in detail. Step by step instructions of assembly, general operation and disassembly are provided to allow an operator completely unfamiliar with the sampler to successfully apply the BLVWS to his research sampling needs. The sampler permits concentration of both particulate and dissolved radionuclides from large volumes of ocean and fresh water. The water sample passes through a filtration section for particle removal then through sorption or ion exchange beds where species of interest are removed. The sampler components which contact the water being sampled are constructed of polyvinylchloride (PVC). The sampler has been successfully applied to many sampling needs over the past fifteen years.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis report documents progress for four major research projects which include 10 discrete research tasks being conducted for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Office of Research, Waste Management Branch. The primary purpose of these tasks is to provide information to help the NRC license uranium recovery facilities. A truncated title of each task and a brief highlight summary are provided here . • Long-Term StabilizationThe baseline data studies on long-term stabilization techniques were completed and reports issued in four categories: 1) rock riprap design methods, 2) wind erosion, 3) overland erosion, and 4) survivability of ancient earthen mounds. The theory and currently accepted design procedures for riprap design methods were reviewed; the physical processes of wind and water erosion, and the models used to estimate erosion rates and soil loss were reviewed; and ancient man-made earthen mounds were evaluated as approximate analogs of uranium mill tailings impoundments.Using the baseline studies, an interim handbook for riprap design was compiled and forwarded for review and comment by NRC staff. The comments were used to revise the subtask work for FY-83.Field trips were made to Mt. Sopris, Colorado, to gather rock samples with known weathering ages for rock durability studies, and to several uranium mill tailings sites to select two disposal sites that will be analyzed in detail during the technical and economic feasibility study. The impoundments at Slickrock Mill (Colorado) and Shiprock (New Mexico) were tentatively selected for analysis.The use of ultra-sound for predicting rock durability showed little promise in laboratory studies of a suite of rock samples with the same lithologic source for different weathering ages. Future studies will use semiquantitative, geomorphologic field techniques coupled with more conventional rock-durability tests.
Experiments were conducted to compare radon diffusion coefficients determined for 0.1-m depths of soils by a steady-state method in the laboratory and diffusion coefficients evaluated from radon fluxes through several-fold greater depths of the same soils covering uranium-mill tailings. The coefficients referred to diffusion in the total pore volume of the soils and are equivalent to values for the quantity, D/P, in the Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Uranium Milling prepared by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Two soils were tested: a well-graded sand and an inorganic clay of low plasticity. For the flux evaluations, radon was collected by adsorption on charcoal following passive diffusion from the soil surface and also from air recirculating through an aluminum tent over the soil surface. An analysis of variance in the flux evaluations showed no significant difference between these two collection methods. Radon diffusion coefficients evaluated from field data were statistically indistinguishable, at the 95% confidence level, from those measured in the laboratory; however, the low precision of the field data prevented a sensitive validation of the laboratory measuremP.nts. From the field data, the coefficients were calculated to be 0.03 ± 0.03 cm 2 /s for the sand cover and 0.003 ± 0.002 cm2js for the clay cover. From the laboratory data, the coefficients were calculated to be 0.021 ± 0.002 crn2js for the sand cover and 0.0036 ± 0.0004 cm2js for the clay cover. The low precision in tl1e coefficients evaluated from field data was attributed to high variation in radon flux with time and surface location at the field site.
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