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Uranium Contamination in the Great Miami Aquifer at the Fernald Environmental Management Project, Fernald, Ohio
Author(s) -
Sidle W. C.,
Lee P. Y.
Publication year - 1996
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.1745-6584.1996.tb02082.x
Subject(s) - aquifer , uranium , plume , environmental science , contamination , hydrogeology , hydrology (agriculture) , infiltration (hvac) , water table , groundwater , geology , environmental engineering , geotechnical engineering , geography , ecology , meteorology , metallurgy , biology , materials science
Ground‐water investigations at a former U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex near Fernald, in southwestern Ohio, included the delineation of uranium contamination above the USEPA proposed drinking water standard of 20 μg/l. Contamination occurs in a buried valley and has migrated > 1.5 km south‐southeast of the facility boundary. Flooring of the plume(s) appears to be > 32 m below the water table of the Great Miami Aquifer. U 6+ predominates in the modeled U‐O 2 ‐CO 2 ‐H 2 O system and U retardation decreases at depth. U 234 /U 238 disequilibria analyses complement hydrogeologic studies which suggest that U leakage through the clayey till cap is less significant than the predominant transport pathway of infiltration via drainage channels incised into the aquifer.