List of currently classified documents relative to Hanford Operations and of potential use in the Columbia River Comprehensive Impact Assessment, January 1, 1973--June 20, 1994

Abstract

I DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image produced from the document. products. Images are best available original I Preface The Columbia River Comprehensive Impact Assessment (CRCIA) Project at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL)(a) is evaluating the current human and ecological risks from contaminants in the Columbia River. The risks to be studied are those attributable to past and present activities at the Hanford Site. The Hanford Site is located in southcentral Washington State near the town of Richland, Washington. Human risk from exposure to radioactive and hazardous materials will be addressed for a range of river use options. Ecological risk will be evaluated relative to the health of the current river ecosystem. The overall purpose of the project is to determine if enough contamination exists in the Columbia River to warrant cleanup actions under applicable environmental regulations. This report identifies currently classified documents that 1) are relative to Hanford operations, 2) may contain information relevant to a comprehensive study of the Columbia River, and 3) were generated between January 1, 1973 and June 20, 1994. Three previous reports (Haerer 1990a; Haerer 1990b; HEDR Staff 1993) identify approximately 18,000 classified documents originated at the Hanford Site from 1944-1972 and relative to Hanford production facilities operations. Many of these documents have been declassified since publication of these three previous reports. With the addition of this fourth report, a complete listing of classified documents, which may contain information of potential use to the CRCIA Project, is provided from start up of operations at the Hanford Site to the present. Historically, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) operated nine production reactors (B, C, D, DR, F, H, KE, KW, and N) along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. The Hanford Reach extends 85 kilometers (51 miles) downstream from Priest Rapids Dam to the.head of the McNary Pool just north of the city of Richland. Eight of these reactors used single-pass cooling systems that released radionuclides, process chemicals (including chemicals that inhibited corrosion), and heated water into the Columbia River. These eight reactors were all shut down by early-1971. The N reactor, which used a closed-loop primary cooling system, operated between 1963 and 1987. It was deactivated in 1989 and is in the process of being decontaminated and decommissioned. Past operations'of Hanford's processing plants also resulted in contaminated effluents, some of which have made their way to the Columbia River through the groundwater. These plants were the bismuth phosphate process plants (B and T Plants), plutonium uranium extraction plant (A Plant/PUREX), reduction and oxidation plant (S Plant/REDOX), and the plutonium finishing plant (Z Plant/PFP).. The CRCIA Project is a joint activity of three government agencies at the Hanford Site: DOE, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Washington State Department of Ecology. Th...

Data for the screening assessment. Volume 1: Text, Columbia River Comprehensive Impact Assessment

“…The process involved in the screening assessment was to first identify the documents containing pertinent data. That information was published in two reports (Eslinger et al 1994 andHuesties 1995), which were issued as final reports.…”

“…The data documents listed in Eslinger et al (1994) and Miley and Huesties (1995) helped to identify the most significant Hanford Site contaminants that affect the Columbia River. The winnowing process used to determine which of those contaminants should be evaluated in the screening assessment of risk was published in Napier et al (1995) as a draft.…”

“…The comments on the draft will be incorporated and the screening assessment and requirements for a comprehensive assessment will be published as a final report. viii 20, 1994 (Miley andHuesties 1995) PNL-10459…”