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Chlorine‐36 Releases from the Savanniah River Site Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facilities
Author(s) -
Beasley T. M.,
EImore D.,
Kubik P. W.,
Sharma P.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1992.tb01530.x
Subject(s) - environmental science , savannah river site , radionuclide , radioactive waste , nuclear reprocessing , flux (metallurgy) , spent nuclear fuel , latitude , south carolina , waste management , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental engineering , chemistry , geography , nuclear physics , geology , physics , engineering , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , geodesy , public administration , political science
Determinations of 36 CI (T½= 301,000 a) in waters on and near the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina reveal that nuclear fuel reprocessing activities there have released measurable amounts of this radionuclide to the environment. The natural atmospheric flux of 36 CI at the latitude of SRS is 20‐25 atoms m ‐2 sec ‐1 . Atmospheric releases of 36 CI from SRS, within the site boundaries, have increased this flux by a factor of at least 10 to 20. Approximately 3×10 9 Becquerels (Bq) [84 millicuries (mCi)] of site‐derived 36 CI have been deposited within 200 km of the plant boundaries. By comparison, fallout of 36 CI from nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s deposited twice this amount of activity in the same area. Surface‐water 36 CI concentrations in on‐site streams represent about 0.01 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking‐water standard and therefore pose no health concern. At SRS and similar facilities, this additional source of 36 CI should prove useful for validating ground‐water and atmospheric transport models.