One of the principal components of the environmental remediation program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is the assessment of ecological risk. Used to support CERCLA, RCRA, and DOE orders, the ecological risk assessment (ERA) can identify environmental hazards and evaluate remedial action alternatives. Ecological risk assessment is also an essential means for achieving DOE's risk based end state vision for the disposition of nuclear material and waste hazards, the decommissioning of facilities, and the remediation of inactive waste units at SRS. The complexity of an ERA ranges from a screening level ERA (SLERA) to a full baseline ERA. A screening level ecological risk assessments, although abbreviated from a baseline risk assessment, is nonetheless considered a complete risk assessment (EPA, 2001a). One of the initial tasks of any ERA is to identify constituents that potentially or adversely affect the environment. Typically, this is accomplished by comparing a constituent's maximum concentration in surface water, sediment, or soil with an ecological screening value (ESV). The screening process can eliminate many constituents from further consideration in the risk assessment, but it also identifies those that require additional evaluation. This document is an update of a previous compilation (Friday, 1998) and provides a comprehensive …

None

The purpose of this research was to provide information to DOE on microbiological and geochemical processes underlying the potential use of dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria (DMRB) to create subsurface redox barriers for immobilization of uranium and other redox-sensitive metal/radionuclide contaminants that were released to the environment in large quantities during Cold War nuclear weapons manufacturing operations. Several fundamental scientific questions were addressed in order to understand and predict how such treatment procedures would function under in situ conditions in the subsurface. These questions revolved the coupled microbial-geochemical phenomena which are likely to occur within a redox barrier treatment zone, and on the dynamic interactions between hydrologic flux and biogeochemical process rates. First, we assembled a robust conceptual understanding and numerical framework for modeling the kinetics of microbial Fe(III) oxide reduction and associated DMRB growth in sediments. Development of this framework is a critical prerequisite for predicting the potential effectiveness of DMRB-promoted subsurface bioremediation, since Fe(III) oxides are expected to be the primary source of electron-accepting capacity for growth and maintenance of DMRB in subsurface environments. We also defined in detail the kinetics of microbial (enzymatic) versus abiotic, ferrous iron-promoted reduction of U(VI) in the presence and absence of synthetic and natural …

The Pena Blanca natural analog is located in the Sierra Pena Blanca, approximately 50 miles north of Chihuahua City, Mexico. The Sierra Pena Blanca is composed mainly of ash-flow tuffs, and the uranium in the region is contained in the brecciated zones of these tuffs. The Pena Blanca site is considered a natural analog to the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository because they share similar characteristics of structure, volcanic lithology, tectonic activity, and hydrologic regime. One of the mineralized zones, the Nopal I deposit, was mined in the early 1980s and the ore was stockpiled close to the mine. This stockpile area has subsequently been cleared and is referred to as the prior high-grade stockpile (PHGS) site. Soil surrounding boulders of high-grade ore associated with the PHGS site have been sampled. The purpose of this study is to characterize the transport of uranium series radioisotopes from the boulder to the soil during the past 25 years. Transport is characterized by determining the activities of individual radionuclides and daughter to parent ratios. The daughter to parent ratios are used to establish whether the samples are in secular equilibrium. Activities are determined using gamma-ray spectroscopy. Isotopes of the uranium series decay …

Characterization of the reaction violence of LX-04 explosive (85% HMX and 15% Viton A by weight) was obtained from Steven Impact Tests performed above the reaction initiation threshold. A 155 mm Howitzer propellant driven gas gun was used to accelerate the Steven Test projectiles in the range of approximately 170-300 m/s to react (ignite) the LX-04 explosive. Blast overpressure gauges, acoustic microphones, and high-speed photography characterized the level of high explosive reaction violence. A detonation in this velocity range was not observed and when comparing these results (and the Susan test results) with that of other HMX based explosives, LX-04 has a more gradual reaction violence slope as the impact velocity increases. The high binder content (15%) of the LX-04 explosive is believed to be the key factor to the lower level of violence.

None