Open AccessU.S. Department of Energy Nevada Operations Office Environmental Monitoring Program summary data report, second calendar quarter 1996
Author(s) -
Scott Black,
Y.E. Townsend
Publication year - 1997
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/491513
Subject(s) - radioactive waste , hazardous waste , hanford site , waste management , environmental science , waste disposal , municipal solid waste , test site , savannah river site , quarter (canadian coin) , engineering , mining engineering , archaeology , geography
The Nevada Test Site (NTS), located in southern Nevada, has been the primary location for testing of nuclear explosives in the continental US. Testing began in 1951 and continued until the moratorium in 1992. Waste storage and disposal facilities for defense radioactive and mixed waste are located in Areas 3 and 5. At the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS-5), low-level wastes (LLW) from US Department of Energy (DOE) affiliated onsite and offsite generators are disposed of using standard shallow land disposal techniques. Transuranic wastes are retrievably stored at the RWMS-5 in containers on a surface pad, pending shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant facility in New Mexico. Nonradioactive hazardous wastes are accumulated at a special site before shipment to a licensed offsite disposal facility. Non-standard packages of LLW are buried in subsidence craters in the Area 3 RWMS. This report describes these activities on and around the NTS and includes a listing of the results obtained from environmental surveillance activities during the second calendar quarter of 1996