Radioactive effluents in Savannah River. Summary report for 1997

The Nonproliferation Technology Section (NTS), formerly Environmental Technology Section (ETS), has conducted radiometric studies of Plant Vogtle since late 1986, seven months prior to its startup. This program has now been terminated as of May of this year, as support funding is no longer available, The present report presents the final 1997 measurements, as a closeout of this program of study, Plant Vogtle has two 1100 MWe pressurized water reactors developed by Westinghouse. Unit 1 started commercial operations in June 1987, and Unit 2 began in May 1989, During powered operations, NTS routinely detected neutron-activated isotopes in controlled releases but all activities had been orders of magnitude below the DOE guide values and EPA/CFR levels. The Vogtle release data and the NTS measurements have tracked well over the past ten years. These very sensitive ultra low-level measurements of the radioactive effluents have been important to both institutions, as they could address abnormal trends before they became health and compliance concerns