Dissolving of Twenty Day Metal at Hanford

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t not on batch loaded into a clean Cssalver on Decentexr 2, !.9L?, Galc-ed. lat ions of the hazard were -de by the method of 0. G. Su%n and attempts nade d cz is g thr run indicated as bz ill rsc face inversion with an uns+&ble condition Geiger counters were abtZinc6 rrithin a radius of 4to5miles from the stack. Sip if i cant rsadings t?pcarcd i n the Uchlnnd - Pasco - €eaton City area about no019 of Dec nber 3.Lz tim ted maximum concentrations vcre on tfie order of 10 to 10% uc/l o f 1-131. Queationabh positive rcadiigs..aere obtainkd an filters at Spokana on Dccemkc 3 and Decemtcr 5 , 19L9. Aircraft roeasureEzlts mada i n t3e direction of Spokane on December 3 , 19A9, Cornell. It is postulated that .t3e peak closest t o the projec+, ras due ts I-UI Readings as big5 as 2 x 10'4 uc/l 02 1-131 and 20CO to 3003 c/m on portabl; Considerable depositloll ocmd particularly clone t o the stacks. -getation readings, above the permanent tolerance due of 9much occurred mer a region extending f r o & Tho Dalles, Oregon, to Spokane, and from Pato the Blue Mountains, vegetation dacayed to background with an eight Gay half - ue. tkoso found in other plants. specimens from witbin the project bod s ry received thyroid fEaE;Latioa vag Th0 rate of depositfon in water rag estinatcd at2x l& I'Exposures of &an iot*d plants in the area gave results coqarable t o Anids collectad from the region indicated that frum talerance to 80 times tolerance daily. i . ;

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i n g reeulta to m e that no one was overexposed to the active fumes, and secondarily buU&zgs, t errs in features, stc. by t!!air local name, Figura 1, included in the krtroduction to t h e repart, fs a map ahowing the location of t h e mora prominent

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.* Upon retced&g this Infomation, each pup p azzi c fy t ' ag started more dctalled and seekg that the fumes were Ubcratad safeb. An outline of this pla m hg is rpveP belolr sbao mcb of tho work dono at this the aided considorably fn interTit21t h b curpunt of ac+,ivitg being released, g o d dilution of the fumes before fhe 3mXLdbgI and posafble exposure of personnel, Crfteria decided upon f o r weather

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(5)- Condftions where@ the bclk of tbe stack effluent would stay daft, A met3 76% of tke tine, acd *at -3 a ! ~csverage amraged 6.7 on a e cale of 10, ta 10-77 at %e AOC foot level. The prevail hg dk ect ion was n cf he st.A moderate inversion usually overlies Lie area at night,forzg near sunset aud termkiating about one - Id2 hour after sinrise. and the pn b ability of its oc mn ce during acy pazrticular 2L hour period is ah4s IIorzally, preci ? it atl on is Wzpquant Thb above statistics hdi cate that the chance of ff ndh g favorsbls meteomlogIical canditbns for the disaalutian on a a ~p zzf ~ A a rdate mi&% bd good. Hommr, the m3n-Q of Ib v ember, 1949, m spl aped d th inclement re a aer nfrfch included b o periods of recnrrent storas with attendant dsd and rsin, interspersed by E 10-3s~ stagnant perfod duzhg nhi& ceiUngs mru con thud & lor and fog was present on aa a m p of near-lg 19 hours each day. This inClemat wmather necessitated post-

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Z Q ~ Suf metal per mga on ts? ofu one tan heel. Bc est b zte of l 2 - i 6 hcuzs for the dissolution of one tanms =de. tion of one ton nould l.ibar,to LOCO curies of 1-1-31and 7900 c u r b 3 of Xc-133. The rut8 of dischxig m s cstimzted f rum thr ~ oevolution c u ~ p o smesurod in m d m m in 3-4 hourj. Extrapolation of these curpes t o a 16 hour dissolving (Fig.2) indicated a xanop peak a t about throe hours and aa iodin0 peek at about amphm aftor t$e start. The maxim an rnta of omission ms estimated a t O.W &ea/sec for Xo-U3 a d 0.34 cu=ies/sec f o r GUS. These values would amtart to about 28 ncfi oi xe-133 and IO u c / ~of I-UI in t h o atad on the -is of aa

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log5cal conditions and flat terrain m a encountered tk~ug?zouC,t be eat ke pat2 of +kt cloud, Two values az? d v e n far sac! distence: (1) the coefficient of tke asquatbn 2 = k - where Q is the rate o f emission In micr=2=ias/sec, TJ I s *e uind speed 13. metsrs/aec, and is cgncentratfon h ucfi; and (2) I A e actual far 8-231) apd e wind speed of ll e. Figure 4 prssonts en estfmats of the yidth of the cloud at various Gistancee fs defined aa tfia distance betaean t h e tm points on the extremities that ' h a ~ ea concentration as-ten* of t b e pear concentration. The maxbm activf- expectad a t the pound 1s pa en ted fn Mw5 uadar the ssma CondAtbns ns for the air concentrations. The grouad pat ten expected fora staacty modarate inversion condition with a wlnd s ~ e dof 1l qhis given ia Flgur ~6.

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scn b ter sp z les on therese nation. trol rr dio station, Thus i% m s possible to obtain reports fmn t h field czrs use of the plotting rcon facilities in conditLons appraxhating th se of ac actual emergenq and v ~ a sver;r Taluable In g=jili?g infomation on techniques. The plc t ting mom was manned by i led th Instmment Personnel from 1900 on L2/2 t o 1000 on 1 2 / 3 and by ar, ki- Forcss r q resent at ive fx a OlCO on l2/3 t o 1000 .on

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wlue that much of t h e conductivit;r senzi?ivit;r was l o s t , and the scribber had to ’bo vitg meter rould be reliable. 5. FIe log m De teck or

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';fie m,' The counter pulse nodulated a national EX0 receiver rhich detecked uaSb of buildings atm Fnb heights of 5 1 above the muid.In every cssa, The c & a t air monitors wcze G4 tubcg of the sane t7pc as Uca used for t k e air was weda 'ibtoaL-2 pwq at a rata of 1.5 - 2.0 md, Theso tubes me ZSLterable ad,ide is thca wduatod by notbg tfre hcrease in counting nta t3.m ilssk and a piece of amma tubing insert ad tbmugh a Nbber stwr ao that

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Sc-ubber solutiocs mrc analyze2 by n cut r all z ation of the caustic nits. nitrLc ashbas filter paper. Tho f i l t e r pa?er vas counted on the first shelf of a mica dzdm corntcr (23% geometry) and com ct ions appliod for baokscst%er, absoqtian la the counter ukdow, and sample size.(') Syiked sanples acca mpeg the bPBlp808 a precipitation with silver iodide and filtration t hugh a l-i/2" Vegetatfan aamplea wore analyzod only far 1431 ac cod bg to t!s pracedm I n every case five grsm samples nare wed. The Considera@le difficulty nas encountared with these analyses aue to the rentad in Table 2.

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Akc m ler off Vater in a4,- cooler cleaned It I s belfeved *et mast of t!!is con that ion orfgbatad btko & s u ~ l y nf tiha rater from this unit on 1215 gvo 0.38 uc/l. Aa aWdt of thia mntamination, the blank voptation samples pve pasitiTe results for s md weeks follolring the run. The actid * found in such blank aqles is @van in Figure 15 which is aplot of the average .of dl samples run on

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0s Dec e aer 2, a cold front orierited in a no+hre&sou+Aecst dL-action passage and czntbued af t e,-mud. The ma that outlook on the mod ~ qof +&e m, however, was for substantiallg roducsd rind speeds after mmset. for a ear7q that evening. Thus it was decided t o gu ahead wits plsns (Section E) period, aceWg of about 5000 feet, All othor nearb ropartislg stations had either clear skies or high thin scattared clouds and ud3mi-d cuU ' g s and Spoknne ra3 also the only nearby reporting station w i t h ecg appre-

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the H'7 E ' et For dou Statior. a t 0500. Frecf ? it atIon acouyted to only ak rz c eat this the previous day. f nm the Pnc if ic bmu#t prc c ip it ct lon to nearly all of Washhgton cnd ta more than half of CXegr~n. hunts vare mostly U&t, ol though Tataosh Island reprked 0.5t h&. The EB Meta on log t Statim had no proc iy it ation up to 2230, 'but roceived

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Spec id pilot balloon runs were also de bp *e A k Force at 'Asas Ute, Tuheaaa, and Edi land and by the H7 Meteomlog7 Gmup at the €122 -25~. ' b e rivl velocities an measured by these pups are even iz Table 6. The dL-scLlim h W table is even in degrees of az but h fol lom d bY the wh d speed in knots.

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of t h e period, Betvsen 2200 an 12/3 and 0200 on 1 2 / 3 there i s a sU@t abF-Ct at This component is quite evident In t3e read he fmm 0200-0U%3. After 0600 on l2/3 the minds shifted toa definite east arb directfan dth a strong northerly cocsponext near Rirhlnrur. The ataaspheric sts bil iv during, and he db tel g fol lod g, the tine of the run b &uun pap hie ally in Plyrsa 35 End 36. Here, temperature In dopea Fahrsnheit 58 plottsd against height b f e e t abow me- aea level. The data are takan from special radfoaonde obsorrations mado at Richland on Deabr 2-1, he%. 'PUrLng this time it 5s rea men that the air wag cd it loa unstable abeoe asnod shallm surfnco krpersion ocd gat d&t.- Figuras 35 and 36 a r e fnm data taken'durlng t h e actual course of the ~UU.

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pulllrig one Xter of air t?ruugb thrse of them and analyzing tSe sodim car hx a to aclction. A value of absut LE5 efficient; was o'ctaded.

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1/2 I& So h u t e UB, Mile 9, 600 100 yd SE stack 1 mi. SE 200 W Gate 1/2 mi. SOW. Gat0 ooo dam Route qS to dicrirazla, He rrted reading o f 1ooO-~oOc/m gna partable Gel- Corrnter the way in, but a l a t e r chock fndicated about that mu& coxtacri-

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Tke large fluctuations noted in L!e table &-J due to rat ding The s dsc rd be rsa q les for 1-131 rem all a9pamntly positive, bu+ most of oif ,=adlation levels at locations where no power is a-ble indicated no respnse t0 tb8 activftbs Ubrutad einea madlngs continued at about t h e same lwch d t e r 2zrtensftg QP thoae mits designed to integrate re&@ over a peried of dags o r A weapons carrier w i t h a tna Izvp generatar operated betueca Pasea and CoaneL1,

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1 and rrrrsucd betvesn OLOO and1 ' 3 rcsults from these unitc

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forC!&m of the cloud passed over t b e 303 Brca - R i d a n d &=?a after 0900 on l2/3 podd sfnee t U locatfon is only 3cOl fmn the bzsc of the stack in a sout?Ierlg Ssoernl of these scrubbers were 2ruccded by ClS t7pa6 filter papon, rout holy mod to d * ar for the aerosol t ~ ~ aof actftrlv usually coqoscd ofthe lonerU w d ffssion elements. These filters u unt kg on adc s dado - cou zz r. The d&a fron theso fil tars, along dth an ss-te of *e fi-actfon of the totd activft7 as measured by t h e bum of tho s& that *e bulk of the activitr on tho filter paper is 1-131 since its conccntration in the dr mus no ai&. The lack of F p e r uperntian w i t 2 1 the unton and the

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Decay m e s on these f'7ter pa?ert indicated thzt better tsan 9% of the a d 7 f W deposited 185 I-I.31. Theso values am fakTJ consistent with pRViouS a t edr uas pulled dternrrteu d t recordad the dow OS its

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Gdrs md the horn tendenq of 1-13. to deoosit "stronglj on suzfaces, leds to thc belief thzt the readings on &&cso bouzters may be dua as much to t h e 1-131 absorb& tunatel7 it necessaq to remove these units on i2/5 ddew data mrt? not

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3tfs cf certain legs occuzed, they were omitted on U s m?, but a cm$.ata log of Cudet in Tablo 17 at t h o end o f thi3 saction. Zvidonce of hi& concentrations o f the radio - adfve cloud mis found in tbe Davexzpbrt area and thomu& rnostigation of the

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r cz bed 11,200 cubic feet cf d.r aurin& that tF7a. It was renoved from the UC bceausc a*t!m *vCrso effoct it was having on the ptlrforzacu of the canductid*

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Fj.v55 presents t!m results of the and p is of the ve station collec5ed iz a s- up aattlesnake :rlouutak ani& is one s i d e of t b e Sento:: ge? at thc soutkyest gsses from L\e area. The figure is a profile of Rattlesnake ?bbuntain +&L\ +.?.?ebase a t & bg paid. Tbe acti-ritjr found ia san ~ l c sa td bus dt it dos is desip-ated thu hcl@t of the crosshatched portion witfi 112" equal to loo0 nruC/kg. 1%3 ppecz fnm this &art that thc act idyl 1s h i & cst on tfie plataau at about 2030 feat possibly due to t;r'sulcnca of t3e & passint over this redon. Figure 56 presents a sidlar Fic ture for aSLZ UE, tke Horse Heavon Hills '%mediatelysou* of Banton Cie. Smediate off-area ne= conducted d u r b g e week of 1 2 / 5 - 1219 in a northcr'q direction towards Spokane eince Uswas the dim c tion EstfPatad for the bulk of the cloud, A8 the data bogaqto dm from thuse smqs and the arsa m a it m3 & parent that a conaidarable conccatztfon occ ' m d to the so& of

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cant=.ations 05 high as 5OO-lOOC mc,/kz extend well 'Dclon Bellton C i e k t o the Earso kg area ia doubt,% becauso of the p a d a r gec3pqhy of the mzds and &e high cant7=nxinatbn o c c r h g in the analpis. Tho Udts of the are2 simeyed ere &Aced UnPo&ntalg the lack of mad sad the sum eccguntered at the end of December did not el low an examinntion of tha enas oa.st of …