Radioactive Contamination in the Environs of the Hanford Works for the Period October, November, December, 1949 (Partial)

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This reports umm rize s tho measurermts made for r odio act iv cc on wm tion in the environs of the Hanford Works. The principal sources of the r do oct irl ty origin a ting c?s a result of operations at Honford which affect the en v iron mn tin this rrca nre the two paste stacks in the separations area and th cooling nztcr froc tb fair p ilo areas. kkclsurenents are also made on samples taken from tk f ~ dor dn osh oystcris uhich are primarily confined rr i thin the project prop r.ut how il cor.tUy :m.inviea of these data are reported in Health In s tmnt Divisions En vj or.3rc ports, c? soc.enlut more detailed discussion of these data is covered i n ti.9 qucrtcrly rc port. 1.1 this manner, ah tte revalue tion of possible trends can be detected 8s a~t23ult L' the increased number of measurements made available by conCining tho data for a wee month priod. During the qur t cr,the vind directions within these pcr nt ions area pv ailed from the northwest with variable n in d directions in tha vici d ty of the 10; hoes. :$tal &issolution vias in progress cig h ty - eiiht per cent of tkc tirz wkan the, calculated etnosphere dilution ratios m repeater than 1000 t o 1. graphs suruiariaing the vine? directions and velocity during this p'ri.3c.i ilrc included with 2. reference to their effect on the pattern of the dist rit nti on of I-cl cn WE;- et et ion in this crea. Dissolving during this period ';:as normal using 83 t o 101 dsys cool in^ ti= fcr their rdia ted uranium with the exception of tho ex peri mn tal d is sold w ikon 16 day cooled urm i unR ~ Sd is solved xi thin a twenty-four Feriod on Dececter 2 erd 3 , 194.9. Prior to the ex per inen tal dissolving(green run), the levels of dec at ted 1-131 and n@n-Volztile erztters on vegetation did not differ significantly fror, the actid.tj. levels measured during the previous quarter. Iso - activity naps i n 7711ich the ra$i.- tu2e and ext cc t of the deposited 1.131 on vegetation are inc ll ded in this dgcmont. Just efter the green-run, nhen large q unti ties of 1-13 Zerc disc hared Into th? ctnosphere due to the dissolving of the green metal, increases in c?eFositec! 1-131 concentre t ions on vegetation over the past month approached factors of 1GO t o 600 i n the t ration of 1-131 on vegetatj.cn just after the green run 7 - a ~about 28 uc/kg 2 3 co+ared vith2mex i mum of 55 muc/kg ma sued before the green run. The o - ie roll Fatter n of deposited 1-131 after the Green run extended i n cn elonz2ted shcrc zkut 40 riles W kk 2nd 200 cile s long lying northeast and south r x st of thc 200 I.'cst Area st2ck. 'CYS of the Bcnton Gap of Rattles mk e IIountnin indicated fig kc st 1-131 de pcs it ion on zekcn 2% the 1900 foot level, 2, detailed cc np ik tion of th dstc oh tz ircd Fi or to .-Pd after the green run are sunnzrized inthc form of t = bles cnd CF.?phs.

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Atmospheric radiation levels as determined by fixed and de tft ch ble ion iz sti on chrnlxr did not differ significantly from those levels usually encountered i n this mea. Lerosol bcta activity and 1-131 concentrations i n the atmosphere remained essent i ally the S C ~ Qas noted i n previous months except for the momentary increases notcd during the g r e s n run period of December 2 and 3 , 1949 nhen abnormally high concent rations of rn dio oct ive stack effluent were discharged into the atnosphere. lkeswoments for active particles in the atmosphere indicated a docrease fron the socer-ht higher numbers detected during September ; current est imt ions indicate a return of the operations buildings in the sep u at ions areas wero noted during this period anti the ccuses were attributed to local conditions. Slight increases in the number of active particles inside som Monitoring for radioactive contanination in the 100, 200, and 300 .Area vaste systems did not differ sign if i cmt ly from norm1 levels previously observed; snsll de viet ions and flu c tul t ions such as sm.11 increases in the level of activity of the laundry nast es are discussed. into the laundry ditch and U Snanp ina one week priod, It vas estimated, based on a one mek stud7 of laundry tkt 6.8 x lo8 ?.is/min of alp h.a ct iv it y primarily from uranium vas discharged hs anticipated, v5th the decreased flow o f the Colwnbia River during this period, corresponding inc rez ses in the activity of the ri\Tr ;;crc observe2. Beta erd tter s CpproacKng 2425 upc / litcr mere rxasiu-ed in river sanples tdcen nem Harford; 300500 ppc/liter rrere measwed i n sanples taken from near Kennewick and PESCO. nc t iv it y is prim ril y from 14.S hour sodium (Na-24.) . Neasurenents for radioactive conta & m tion in other water supplies using thc Colwnbia as t!ie source of supply rre Giscussec!; nonc of these surveys indicated significant deviations from norm1or antRc dio act im contarAnation i n rain 2nd snou fol lom d the norm1 patterns exp c ted \;ith the exception of the green run period rrhen activity in rain s.aples rmre as high Levels of clphn activity measured i n drinking rrater did not deviate from the levels reasuret! in past surveys. continued t o lx found i n sane Richlond drinking water supplies; an avercge value of 21 ug U / liter natcr vas reasured ina Bcnton City Yell; this well is representative of the highest lev cl of urcniun inthe drinking xtcr of this goneral erea. Complete Uraniun, pre sum bly occurring in natural q w nti ties

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Tlie S-J of the meteorological conditions presented for the period October, IIovenkT, and December, 19.49, includes only that data vrhich were recorded and observed during the actual hours of rr,etal dissolution. The measurements were wde by t!ie Ik te or ology Group of the Health Instrument Divisions for the daily 24 hours periods ; the d nt a which ne re representative of the periods during which radioactive gases rrere emitted tothe atmosphere were extracted by the Site Survey Group. Fi y xe s1 through 4 summarize the observed and recorded wind conditions graphatthe 200 foot level at the k te or ology To mr near the 200 \ est Area. logical data at the 200 foot level mc used as t!lis height is a most coDparable with the height of the stack emitting the re.dioactive gases. the northrrest quadrant; the nort'mest conponcnt contributed 23 per cent of the mind and the vest component contributed 24 percent of the wind. recorded from the easterly components; all southerly directions accowlted for approximt ely 25 Fer cent of the nind. Again, the south and southvest directions accounted for the higher velocity w5nds; them as i mum uind velocity measured during the quarter Figure 1presents the three month average wind direction data as recorded The prevailing wind was from A lcinimum of wind was vas 55 miles p r hour on November 27, 1949. Figure1 nay Ee favorably compared with the iso - activity pattern of deposited radio - active contamination on vegetation (see Figure 6). The rnnd direction data presented in Figure2sunna rize s the average monthly \rind direction as observed at the k te or - ology Toner, T b October and Novemhr direction data corresponded favorably with the quarterly average a t this location ; hor!ever, an increasing amount oP rripd was noticed from the southest direction during the month of December. east ai7d northeast conponents again sho md a nilximum or' vrind. c tu at ions in prcdominating wind directions directly influenced the trend Or deposited r sdio z ct ive contamination on vegetation, activity do tec tod on the vegetation on the Fahldce Slop vas attributed to the southIt is significant that thc The month t o month fluTlie occasional trace quantities of 1-131

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r:ind components and their corresponding higher velocities, Fi,pre 3 swmrizes the xind direction as recorded a t the 200 Teat 4rec and the This gr sph portrays the diff z rc n ces in prc v zi ling rrind directions which100 Ares. occur atthe 100 Lrocs and atthe 200 West Meteorology Tower. the 100 ! malo catia ns represent abcve ground; the 200 Yest data represent observations made e t 200 feet above ground TIE da”a portrayed for observations made at elevations less thcn 50 feet This e lev z tion difference could possibly account for som of the direction diff u rence s noted; however, it lies been found th ct at tiic hhteorolo&y Tom rnk re observa t ions cre nado a t levels from 50 feet above ground t o 400 feet .abcve ground, differences in wind velocity may b encountered, but ra roly in direction. In the vicinity of the 100 Arcas th3 wind prevailed fr on ’ the north mst about 5 t o 10 per cent of the t ize and sbout 25 t o 35 pr cent of tlie tire i n tile 200 v’est observed fron the north vest vas nearly icbntical toth5t amo-mt observed from the east Rhereas the ez st - direct i cn accounted for the ninimwn arnount of n in d in the 200 months of October an6 Novsrker; hoilewr, the data for De cer hr differed significantly from that of the 100-E and 100-F Arecis in that it shoved the prev dling direction to Llso ?:orthy of mention is the feet thct i n t h e 100 Lrecs, t h e mourzt of rdnd lle te or ol cgi cal records rrere not available from the 100-D Area fc r the be south 32 Fer cent of tk time. only eccou-ited for2 Fer cent of tlie wind a t 100-D, vhereas these direct io as tended The nort!v:est, south mst, and northwest directions to prc vc i let the ot kr non i to ring lac ct ions. durir.g the hours of m3td d is sol ut lo9in the separation areas. The desirable 1000 ‘:he u xie siri ble ?iiutI.cn ratio of less than 500 to1 occurred 5pr cent of the tire during the qm.rter. i!ost of the low dilution periods existed during Novernbcr Tbn oter and Dec en br the 500:l dilution rn tio existed only1 and 2 per cent of the time,

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The complete absence of rain during the ec rly part of this quarter 17x4broken nhen 1.47 inches of rz.in f e l l during November. enber exceeded that during October and December by a factor of almost fifteen. complcto tabulation of the rainfall data and the beta activity measured in rainS ~ J - ples, is presented in Section VI of this reg ort. The total precipitation during NovThe f i r s t measured snowfall occurred on December 15, homver a trace amount of snon 1723 detected on Octoker 23. The totals nov fall during the qmrter was 0,65 (Please r of er to Figures 1,2,3, e.nd 4)

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The following tabulation summarizes the amount of If day radio-iodine (1-131) 5.4 day xenon (Xe-133) calculated to have been released during dissolution of based on the weights and cooling time of each batch of irradiated urz nim nhich is d is sol wd, but does not represent the actual amounts of radioactive gases nhich -.:ere 1i';cratsd iri to the 2.trcosphere. The calculation does not include corrections for th rettintjon c;f the radioactive gases in the dissolve r and does tlot correct for the The calculations are De ce mbe r 252.5 13.0 5247 5* 4752.7* +t These figure3 include the radioactive gases formed during the experiracntal diu? aol uti on of one ton of irradiated uranium cooled only 16 days. This exFerimnta1 data of this expr in ent is included in a report issuod undcr sep crate cover. Figure 5presents the calculated amount of 1-131 released i n the dissolve r unite during uranium dissolution for each day during the period, l7ith the exception of the green run, the cooling tines for uranium dissolvcd during this period ranged Due to the large anount of activity released a t the time of the green run, it necessary to present the results of the s mp ling program for this quarter in two distinct parts in order t o eliminate any distorting which would result from cocbining the data before and after the green run. Primarily directed to covering that period bcfore the green run. For the main part this section mill ke of the data gathered fol lo ning the green run are presented for puposes of corn-

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during this period, about half of these viere obtained after the green run, ority of the samples collected after the pen run were only anallyzed far ti8 b b 3ct iv it gfr on the eight day radio - icd in e (I-l3l), vh ile those collected prc.doUs to t3c peen run k7em analyzed for both 1-131 activity and for the keta 0ctivit.J froE tls longcr half lived non-volatile fission product elements, for 1-131 and non-volatile emitters m y bo referred to in a previous report, Tlle rxthods of -lyse3 collected fr on representative locations on and adjacent tothe Hanford Fcrks, 1-131 Zctivity det cc tc daft z r the green run is tabulated separately front kt ::kith m s rneasured during Octo br and Novedxr. zverage during the previous qur tar, elthough - isolate $ arces such as GiLl e I'omtain snd Eenton Qity indic zte d snell increases nhicii could have ken due toa s-lr?ll ir.- crease in the d is sol vi qg for the p rio2. The average 1-131 activity neasurcd o:i Previous to the green run, the nzdm ir.3iv i dual and averags 1-131 activity (55 rnyc/kg snd 21 myc/kg, res Fec t iv ely)mre OECO egdn found on vegetEtFon calle c ted in the i media tc vicinity ol" the 200 rest G3.t ~ - house, T h e 1-131 zctivity found along Route 3 which passes t h e 200 fTsst Catahouse confirms this higher deF os it ion which occurred i n this vicinity during Octo br 3rd

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2p~/kgwas detected in Richland. 3ns mp les collected ct five and ten mile intervals in the region bounded bj hnis - ton, Spokane, Ellensburg, and Maryhill, the overall nvers*:e 1-131 activity of ft kc site ;:as less than 2 r;Ulc/kg. Figure 7show the extent of this survcg, the &ea_uzncy of s in p ling and includes the 1-131 activity Ea sure d on the vegetation s & …