A p r i l 1980Prepared f o r t h e U.S. Department o f Energy under C o n t r a c t DE-AC06-76RLO 1830 P a c i f i c Northwest L a b o r a t o r y R i c h 1 and, Washington 99352 SUMMARY T h i s document describes a r a d i o l o g i c a l survey which was performed t o e v a l u a t e t h e magnitude and d i s t r i b u t i o n o f r a d i o a c t i v e c o n t a m i n a t i o n on t h e exposed s h o r e l i n e s o f t h e Columbia R i v e r along and downstream o f t h e Hanford S i t e . The area encompassed by t h e survey i n c l u d e s t h e l o w -l y i n g exposed 1 and on b o t h sides o f t h e r i v e r from t h e uppermost p o i n t o f p r o d u c t i o n r e a c t o r discharge i n t o t h e r i v e r a t 100-B Area t o t h e confluence of t h e Snake and Columbia R i v e r s , almost 60 m i l e s downstream o f t h e s t a r t i n g p o i n t . E x t e r n a l exposure r a t e measurements were made a t n e a r l y 30,000 l o c a t i o n s d u r i n g t h e survey -accounting f o r approximately 60% o f t h e l a n d i n t h e s t u d y area.Measurable r a d i o a c t i v e contamination, r e s u l t i n g f r o m p a s t Hanford o p e r a t i o n s was found t o be p r e s e n t on t h e shore1 i n e s of t h e Columbia R i v e r along t h e study area. The absence o f s h o r t -l i v e d r a d i o n u c l i d e s i n t h e shore sediments and t h e presence o f c o n t a m i n a t i o n s e v e r a l meters above r e c e n t maximum r i v e r l e v e l s i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e m a t e r i a l was d e p o s i t e d some years ago.Contamination on t h e exposed i s l a n d and s h o r e l i n e areas was found t o be p r e s e n t i n t h r e e d i f f e r e n t d i s t r i b u t i o n s : 1 ) A f a i r l y constant, u n i f o r m l y d i s t r i b u t e d 1 ayer o f c o n t a m i n a t i o n was observed over t h e e n t i r e s t u d y area. The average exposure r a t e over t h e survey.area measured 11 -+ 3 pR/hr compared t o a background exposure r a t e measured along t h e s h o r e l i n e upstream o f t h e Hanford p r o j e c t o f 7 -+ 1 pR/hr.Ninety-two areas were l o c a t e d i n which exposure r a t e r e a d i n g s exceeded 25 pR/hr. These areas o f increased r a d i a t i o n l e v e l s are a t t r i b u t e d t o contaminated sediments t h a t have been concentrated i n some places by r i v e r a c t i o n and are r e f e r r e d t o as " c o n t a m i n a t i o n d e p o s i t s . " The areas ranged i n s i z e from a few square meters t o s e v e r a l thousand square meters and were u s u a l l y found i n areas o f dense v e g e t a t i o n . Areas found t o c o n t a i n t h e h i g h e s t l e v e l s o f r i v e r -d e p o s i t e d c o n t a m i n a t i o n were t h e White B l u f f s Slough area, where exposure r a t e s reached 40 pR/hr; t h e Hanford Tcwnsite Peninsula, i n which an area r e a d i n g 45 pR/hr was i d e n t i f i e d , and I s 1 and-344 near t h e 300 Area which read 38 p.R/hr. The iii remaining "contamination d e p o s i t s " were i n t...

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This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, proctss, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer. or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, reammendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. DISCLAIMERPortions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document.Assessments were performed to evaluate compliance with the airborne radionuclide emission monitoring requirements in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP -U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40 Part 61, Subpart H ) . In these assessments, potential unabated offsite doses were evaluated for 31 emission locations at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (DOE-Northwest) on the Hanford Site. Four of the buildings met State and Federal criteria for continuous sampling of airborne radionuclide emissions: . ' .

This report describes the radiological environmental sampling program that is being conducted at the U.S Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site in support of resumed operation of the PUREX fuel processing plant. The report also summarizes preoperational radiological environmental data collected to date. The activities described herein are part of the ongoing Hanford Environmental Surveillance Program, operated by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) for the DOE. This report has been written for the Rockwell Hanford Operations Energy Systems Group for their use in preparing the preoperational radiological status report for PUREX operation.

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