Open AccessNevada Test Site annual site environmental report for calendar year 1997
Author(s) -
Scott Black,
Y.E. Townsend
Publication year - 1998
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/304061
Subject(s) - environmental science , hazardous waste , radionuclide , waste management , containment (computer programming) , radioactive waste , population , hanford site , test site , environmental engineering , environmental protection , engineering , environmental health , mining engineering , medicine , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
Monitoring and surveillance, on and around the Nevada Test Site, (NTS) by US Department of Energy (DOE) contractors and NTS user organizations during 1997, indicated that operations on the NTS were conducted in compliance with applicable DOE, state, and federal regulations and guidelines. All discharges of radioactive liquids remained onsite in containment ponds, and there was no indication of potential migration of radioactivity to the offsite area through groundwater. Surveillance around the NTS indicated that airborne radioactivity from diffusion, evaporation of liquid effluents, or resuspension of soil was not detectable offsite, and exposure above existing background to members of the offsite population was not measured by the offsite monitoring program. Using the US Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA`s) Clean Air Package 1988 (CAP88)-PC model and NTS radionuclide emissions and environmental monitoring data, the calculated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual offsite would have been 0.089 mrem. Hazardous wastes were shipped offsite to approved disposal facilities