Reconstruction of atmospheric concentrations of enriched uranium from the former Apollo facility, Apollo, Pennsylvania, USA

Rood, Arthur S.; Grogan, Helen A.; Mohler, H. Justin; Meyer, Kathleen; Voilleque, P.G.; Till, John E.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106045

Cited by 3 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Operations terminated in 1983, after which concentrations are generally indistinguishable from background. Rood et al (2020) provides a detailed comparison of measured air concentrations over time with predicted air concentrations demonstrating that the atmospheric modeling and reconstructed releases are consistent with the environmental measurements.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

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Analysis of Environmental Data to Support Quantification of Historical Releases from a Former Uranium Processing Facility in Apollo, Pennsylvania

Mohler¹,

Rood²,

Grogan

et al. 2021

Health Physics

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This paper describes how environmental measurement data were used to help quantify the spatial impact and behavior of uranium released to the environment from a uranium manufacturing facility in Apollo, PA. The Apollo facility released enriched uranium to the environment while it operated between 1957 and 1983. Historical monitoring data generated by the site, along with other independent data sources, provided a long-term record documenting the presence and behavior of uranium in the local environment. This record of evidence, together with reconstructed estimates of facility releases, has been used to estimate environmental concentrations during facility operations and potential exposures to members of the public. Historical environmental measurement data were also used to confirm predictions of deposition and concentrations in air. The data are used here to derive atmospheric deposition velocities for the uranium emissions. Based on the spatial pattern of measurements and calculated deposition velocities around the facility, the released material contained larger particles that deposited close to the facility, and the released material remains largely in the surface layers of the soil, indicating limited downward mobility. Evidence of measurable impacts was determined to extend a relatively short distance (<500 m) from the facility. The soil data collected around Apollo are also compared to findings related to uranium mobility at another facility where uranium was released to the environment, and similar behavior was observed at both sites.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Location of the Apollo facility and routine environmental monitoring locations, including representative wind rose redrawn from Rood et al (2020).…”

Section: Site Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Environmental Data to Support Quantification of Historical Releases from a Former Uranium Processing Facility in Apollo, Pennsylvania

Mohler¹,

Rood²,

Grogan

et al. 2021

Health Physics

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“…There are also numerous preprocessors for developing input data, which include surface and upper-air meteorological data, terrain data, and land-use data. CALPUFF has been used on a number of studies involving radionuclide emissions in complex terrain environments (Radonjic et al 2000, 2005; Rood et al 2008, 2016, 2019; Till et al 2014), along with validation studies (Dresser and Huizer 2011; Rood 2014; Holnicki et al 2015)…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…environments (Radonjic et al 2000(Radonjic et al , 2005Rood et al 2008Rood et al , 2016Rood et al , 2019Till et al 2014), along with validation studies (Dresser and Huizer 2011;Rood 2014;Holnicki et al 2015) Model domain and computational grid…”

Section: Atmospheric Dispersion Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the CALPUFF-type terrain algorithm, properties of the puff are adjusted on the basis of local strain to the flow imparted by the underlying terrain (Scire et al 2000). Based on analysis of isopleth plots of plumes in earlier work (Rood et al 2008(Rood et al , 2019, the CALPUFF-type of terrain adjustment was chosen because it better simulated transport up and down a topographic valley.…”

Section: Calpuff/calmet Model Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial Variability and Behavior of Background Radon Concentrations in Ambient Air in the San Mateo Basin of the Grants Mineral Belt

Rood¹,

Whicker²

2022

Health Physics

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A modeling study and analysis of measurement data was conducted in the San Mateo basin near the former Homestake Mining Company of California's mill site located north of Milan, NM, to understand the spatial variability of background radon and identify a suitable background station. Recent guidance from the US Nuclear Regulatory commission clarifies the requirement that dose assessments of existing facilities be based on environmental measurements at the facility's unrestricted boundary instead of predictive modeling. Background is important because it is subtracted from radon measured at the boundary for dose calculations. The current background station lies on the slopes above the wash floor. The mill site contains two tailing piles with a total area of 1.03 km 2 that in 2019 emitted 1,750 mBq m −2 s −1 from the larger of the piles and 320 mBq m −2 s −1 from the smaller pile. Atmospheric transport modeling was conducted to facilitate understanding of the movement of radon in the San Mateo wash bottom and surrounding hillsides. The model was validated using emission and measurement data from the nearby Ambrosia Lake mining region. The modeling, in combination with current measurements and previous studies, indicated the wash floor has characteristically higher radon concentrations than the slopes above the wash. This phenomenon was attributed to (1) higher radon soil flux in the alluvial sediments that make up the wash floor, (2) nocturnal drainage flow that results in a pooling of radon on the wash floor, and (3) inversion conditions that trap radon in a shallow air mass on the wash floor during late evening and early morning hours. Using a regression of predicted and observed radon concentrations, a background concentration of 25.7 Bq m −3 was derived that was close to that measured at background stations about 4 km north of the tailings pile and on the San Mateo wash floor.

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Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China

Gao

Guo

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Uranium (U) mining activities, which lead to contamination in soils and waters (i.e., leachate from U mill tailings), cause serious environmental problems. However, limited research works have been conducted on U pollution associated with a whole soil-water system. In this study, a total of 110 samples including 96 solid and 14 water samples were collected to investigate the characteristics of U distribution in a natural soil-water system near a U mining tailings pond. Results showed that U concentrations ranged from 0.09 ± 0.02 mg/kg to 2.56 × 104± 23 mg/kg in solid samples, and varied greatly in different locations. For tailings sand samples, the highest U concentration (2.56× 104 ± 23 mg/kg) occurred at the depth of 80 cm underground, whereas, for paddy soil samples, the highest U concentration (5.22 ± 0.04 mg/kg) was found at surface layers. Geo-accumulation index and potential ecological hazard index were calculated to assess the hazard of U in the soils. The calculation results showed that half of the soil sampling sites were moderately polluted. For groundwater samples, U concentrations ranged from 0.55 ± 0.04 mg/L to 3.36 ± 0.02 mg/L with a mean value of 2.36 ± 0.36 mg/L, which was significantly lower than that of percolating waters (ranging from 4.56 ± 0.02 mg/L to 12.05 ± 0.04 mg/L, mean 7.91 ± 0.98 mg/L). The results of this study suggest that the distribution of U concentrations in a soil-water system was closely associated with hydrological cycles and U concentrations decreased with circulation path.

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Reconstruction of atmospheric concentrations of enriched uranium from the former Apollo facility, Apollo, Pennsylvania, USA

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

Analysis of Environmental Data to Support Quantification of Historical Releases from a Former Uranium Processing Facility in Apollo, Pennsylvania

Analysis of Environmental Data to Support Quantification of Historical Releases from a Former Uranium Processing Facility in Apollo, Pennsylvania

Spatial Variability and Behavior of Background Radon Concentrations in Ambient Air in the San Mateo Basin of the Grants Mineral Belt

Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China

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