Oak Ridge National Laboratory Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program for White Oak Creek Watershed and the Clinch River

Abstract

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibilityfor the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not neoessadly constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Governmerltor any agency thereof.

Report on the biological monitoring program at Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, January--December 1996

“…The PGDP BMP was implemented in 1987 and consisted of ecological surveys, toxicity monitoring of effluents and receiving streams, evaluation of bioaccumulation of trace contaminants in biota, and supplemental chemical characterization of effluents. The PGDP BMP was patterned after plans that were implemented in 1985 for the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (Loar et al 1989) and in 1986 for O W L (Loar et al 1991) and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (presently the Oak Ridge K-25…”

“…Program (BMAP) in ESD for receiving streams at ORNL (Loar et al 1991); K-25 Site , Ryon 1993a; the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (Ryon 19940; and the Y-12 Plant (Loar et al 1989, Ryon 1992a, with some programs operational since 1984. Changes in the fish communities in these systems have indicated recovery (Ryon 1994b,d) as well as documented impacts (Ryon 1993b.…”

Annual report of the Environmental Restoration Monitoring and Assessment Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for FY 1992. Environmental Restoration Program

“…As a condition of the NPDES permit issued to ORNL on April 1, 1986, a BMAP was developed for WOC; selected tributaries of WOC, including Fifth Creek, First Creek, MB, and Northwest Tn'butary;and the Clinch River. BMAP currently consists of six major tasks that address both radiological and nonradiological contaminants in the aquatic and terrestrial environs at ORNL (Loar 1991). These tasks are (1) toxicity monitoring, (2) bioaccumulation monitoring of nonradiological contaminants in aquatic biota, (3) biological indicator studies, (4) instream ecological monitoring, (5) assessment of contaminants in the terrestrial environment, and (6) radioecology of WOC and WOL…”

“…Periphyton communities in Iotic (running water) ecosystems are complex assemblages of autotrophs (algae) and heterotrophs (fungi, bacteria, protozoa) thatare attached to substrates and often embedded in a polysaccharide matrix. Monitoring of these communities is an important part of the ORNL BMAP (Loar 1991) because they represent a high-quality food resource for many of the lotic invertebrates and herbivorous fishes and are an entry point for contaminants into the food chain. Periphyton communities possess several properties that make them particularly useful in detecting short-term environmental changes: they are ubiquitous, easy to sample, and have short generation times.…”

“…The bioaccumulation monitoring task of the ORNL BMAP (Loar 1991) Results from the monitoring of PCBs in channel catfish in 1991 supported previous conclusions, i.e., some channel catfish caught by anglers in the Clinch River near WOC are likely to contain PCBs in excess of the FDA limit of 2 pg/g (Loar 1992). A significant fraction, although not necessarily most, of the PCB content of those catfish originates in the WOC discharge and/or WOCE The concentrations of PCBs found in catfish from the Clinch River and WOCE in 1991 support the Precautionary Fish Consumption Advisory currently in effect for this reach of Watts Bar Reservoir.…”