Hanford Radiological Sciences Research and Development Annual Report for 1962

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AEC RESEARCH AND HANFORQ RADIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1962 OF PHYSICS AND IN§TRUMENTS LABORATORY JANURRY THROUGH DECEMBER 1962 HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION

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This report was prepared os on occount of Government sponsored work. Neither the United States, nor the Commission, nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission: A. Makes any warronty or representation, expressed or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contuined in this report, or that the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report may not infringe privotely owned rights; or Assumes any liabilities with respect to the use of, or for domages resulting from the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report. As used in the above, 'person acting on behalf of the Commission' includes any employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor, to the extent that such employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor prepares, disseminates, or provides occess to, any information pursuant to his employment or contract with the Commission, or his employment with

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UC-48, Biology and Medicine HANFORD RADIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ANNUAL REPORT Staff Members of Physics and Instruments Laboratory Hanfor d Lab0 rato ri e s January through December 1962 HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION W o r k performed under Contract No. AT(45-11-1350 between the Atomic Energy Commission and General Electric Company Printed in USA. Price $4.00 Available from the Office of Technical Services Department of Commerce

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Atmospheric Diffusion, Deposition, and Transport - Precipitation Scavenging Processes - Advances in Atmospheric Tracer Technology - Refer enc es Cs134in Alaskan Eskimos and in Fallout - Whole Body Counting Following the Recuplex Accident - Pulse Shape Discrimination in Fast Neutron Dosimetry -

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (Contd.) Precision Long Counter: Scattering Corrections - Calibration of the Polyethylene Double Moderator - Characteristics of a Large Neutron Moderator Film Activation Studies Following the Recuplex Calorimetric Determination of the Half-Life of Sb Input and Source Impedance Corrections in High Precision Voltmeter Standardization -

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Reduction of Reactor Effluent Water Radionuclides by Addition of Sodium Silicate to Process Water - The Effect of Chemical Additives and Coating Materials on the Adsorption of Radionuclide Parent Elements on Aluminum Surfaces - Determination of Thorium in Urine by Measurement of C138 in Reactor Effluent Water - Radiochemical Analysis of W1 87 in Reactor Evaluation of Selected Procedures f o r the Separation of Radioarsenic from Reactor Effluent Water -

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A Fluorescein Analysis Technique for Use in Analysis of Grass and Ground Deposited Atmospheric Liquid Scintillation Tritium Counting Improvements - Radiological Chemistry Associated with the Hanford Fast Neutron Doses from the Hanford Criticality Studies of Radioiodine and Other Fallout The Columbia River Sediment Studies -

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (Contd.) The Removal of Radioisotopes from the Columbia River by Natural Processes - Variations in Elemental Concentrations in Effect of a Reactor Fuel Element Failure on the Columbia River Radionuclide Concentrations at Pasco, Washington - The Radiation Chemistry of Erioglaucine - The Effect of Temperature on Radical- Capturing Reactions in Irradiated Aqueous Solutions - Radical Capturing Reactions of Galactose and Kinetics of Radiation-Induced Hemolysis of Human Disc Electrophoresis of Human Serum Irradiated in Thin Layer Chromatography of Triphenylmethane Low Noise Modification of an Electron Spin

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CHEMICAL EFFLUENTS TECHNOLOGY. Soil Chemistry, Geochemistry. M a s s Action Relationships of Some Zeolites in the Region of High Competing Cation Concentrations - Kinetics of Cesium Reactions with Some Inorganic Effect of Base Cation on the Cesium Kinetics of Loading and Elution Characteristics of Some In-Place Permeability Determination in Stream Functions f o r Steady-State Flow in Electrical Analog Simulation of the Hanford Ground Effects of Partially Saturated Flow Parameters on Ground Water Temperature Investigations -

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (Contd. Geologic Features and Ground Water Flow - Geophysical Investigation with a Scintillation Radioisotopes as Particles and Volatiles . Deposition and Retention in Conduits - Deposition of 1 1 3 1 in Conduits - Implications of the Use of Charcoal as a Sample Collector for 1131 and as an I Removal Media for Process Gaseous Uranium Oxidation and Fission Product Volatility Special Fission Product Release StudiesRelease of Radiocesium from Clinoptilolite - Fission Product Release from Uranium -

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Automatic Monitoring and Recording Methods . An Automatic Data System for Atmospheric Physics Phosphorescent Particle Detection Instrument - Protective Clothing Monitoring System - General Radiological Monitoring and Circuit Development . Portable Radiation Survey Instrument - Solid State Scintillation Alpha Instrument - . A Technique for Measurement of Neutron Dose -

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Radiation Detector Development Contaminated Air Monitoring Techniques . Alpha Energy Analysis Using CsI Detectors - Coincidence Counting f o r Plutonium Filter Detection of Airborne Beryllium -

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HANFORD RADIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1962 Atmospheric diffusion and transport studies during the past y e a r emphasized both analysis of data collected in 1960 through 1962 and the continuation of field experiments over t h e Hanford Diffusion grids. Detailed analysis of the 30 Series'' tests performed at Hanford in 1960-61 and t e s t s performed with the same experimental technique at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air F o r c e Base in 1 9 6 1 - 1 9 6 2 demonstrated effects of climatic regimes and terrain on diffusion results. It was found that, for both off-site areas, tests performed in the winter, and particularly on winter nights, resulted in the narrowest plumes. The l a r g e scale pressure gradients associated with frontal weather control the flow in t h e wintertime, producing a persistent wind direction, and, consequently, the narrowest plumes. In the summer, the flow was controlled by the small scale sea breeze circulation where local changes and irregularities caused l a r g e variations in wind direction, giving the widest plumes observed. At both Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg, the sea breeze prevailed in the summer and frontal weather was dominant in the winter. When the seasonal and diurnal effects were accounted for, plume widths for the two off-site areas were in good agreement and Hanford "30 Series" tests, conducted primarily in the summertime, gave curves of plume widths vs. distance from the source comparing well with the group of off-site summer data. The effect of terrain was most noticeable at Vandenberg where one diffusion grid was constructed over a hillsideriver-valley complex cut by a number of deep gullies. The widest plumes were produced there at night when the summer sea breeze diminished and flow around the terrain features became more pronounced. extreme curvature of the plume trajectories. This situation also resulted in

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of similar terrain and circulation effects on the plume width and trajectories at Hanford was suggested by the off-site results. The normalized peak exposures for all three test sites show a dominant gross thermal stability dependence. When this stability dependence is accounted for, the results f o r the three sites show good agreement. The range of stabilities covered by these tests, particularly the Hanford "30 Series", is much broader than that of the previous Hanford Green Glow t e s t s conducted only at night where no obvious stability dependence was noted. ship between dosage and stability was m o r e clearly demonstrated through the crosswind integrated dosages calculated f o r the the dosage was thus removed and a m o r e detailed dependence on stability f o r each test was shown. the crosswind integrated f o r m of Sutton's diffusion model and the experimental values plotted v s . distance is considered to result from deposition on the ground of the diffusing material, which is not accounted f o r in the mathematical model. The experimental diffusion program at Hanford continued during the last half of 1962 with a series of ground releases designed to relate diffusion measure-ments out to 1 2 . 8 km to detailed wind structure, terrain, and length of release effects. TWOadditional ground releases were made over cheat grass fields, continuing the investigations begun in 1 9 6 1 of the dlrect measurement of deposition on the surface. experiments provided the diffusior, patterns at t h e surface, resulting from a continuous release at 185 ft. ments were made on 9 a r c s extending to a distance of 1600 Am from the source. The data from the recent Hanford tests have been reduced and preliminary adys es have been made. More complete analyses will be the subject of future reports. The effect of lateral diffusion in reducing The lack of agreement between Another series of Research in problems of atmospheric diffusion, transport and deposition has advanced in two areas of interest. during the period 1960-62 at Hanford, Washington; Cape Canaveral, Florida; and Vandenberg Air F o r c e Base, California, ha-;e been summarized in between the diffusion at these three testing sites and helps define the factors First, the data that has been collected This summary points up t.he differences and similarities that cause variations in diffusion results . It is significmt that the results from the Air Force sites are very valuable in interpreting the diffusion measurements at the Hanford site. Results from the off-site tests have been particularly

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pertinent to Hanford problems in demonstrating the effects of vegetation, terrain, diurnal, and seasonal variations, forming a basis f o r further analysis of the Hanford data gathered to date and for mobfication of the Hanford experimental design. The second area of progress has been the continuation of the experiEmphasis was given to the measurementmental field program at Hanford. of ground level dose resulting froma release at 185 f t under a regime of unstable atmospheric conditions in one series of experiments, the horizontal cloud growth from a ground source and its relation to the spectrum of wind directions in a second group of tests, and the measurement of the deposition of particulates over a grass surface to a distance of 200 m in a Table 1.1 summarizes the 275 experiments that have been comThepleted since 1958 and will be frequently referred to in this report. Green Glow program w a s reviewed in the 1960 issue of this report and 30 Series" (Phase I) w a s the topic of the 1961 report. 30 Series" and the remaining tests listed in Table 1 . 1 w i l l be discussed in this report. The "30 Series'' w a s a group of experiments designed to investigate diffusion, transport, and deposition of a plume out to 3 2 0 0 m from the source of the tracer material released near the ground. was an extension of the earlier 1959 test series, utilizing the Xanford fluorescent tracer technology reviewed in the 1960 report and References 1.1 and 1. 2 . While the Green Glow tests were conducted in only slightly to moderately stable atmospheric cor,ditions, t h e "30 Series'lwere obtained overall stabilities from typical nighttime conditions to those found on a detailed definition of the vertical m a s s distribution near the ground. outer two arcs, at 1 2 . 8 km and 25.6 km, w e r e not used in the first two phases of the "30 Series" tests, but the 12.8km arc was reactivated for the Additional samplers were added to the grid for amore

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Time of Program Location of Number of Experiments Exp er i m ent s Cape Canaveral, Fla. 23 Cape Canaveral, Fla. 27 Cape Canaveral, Fla. 26 Vandenberg AFB, Cal. 5 2 Vandenberg AFB, Cal. 2 7 Vandenberg AFB, Cal. 30

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third phase to investigate the influences of terrain, length of emission, and the relation of the growth of the plume to the variability of the wind. During stable conditions when the plume was contained within the vertical extent of the towers, the deposition on the ground and vegetation was calculated from mass flux considerations. equivalent to the depletion of the plume determined by integrating the m a s s of material passing through successive downwind cross-sectional areas. This technique has been described in the 1961 i s s u e of this report and T h e amount deposited is The following description of the Hanford grid and the a r e a over which it extends is essential to understanding the differences in the Hanford and off-site tests, which will be discussed. The detailed description of the Hanford grid has previously been reported and is also found in Reference 1.1. SO Series" is located on terrain characterized as gently rolling, which is rather densely covered with vegetation typical of a semiarid region. There are areas within the grid, however, which contain rugged features exhibiting sharp rises and recesses. portion of the total grid, off-site studies indicate that the diffusion n i g h t v e r y well be affected by the protuberances through the creation of mechanical turbulence o r by s o m e systematic deviation from the dominant air flow. The grid for Phases 1 and 2 of t h e Although these areas comprise only a small Horizontal and vertical air samples w e r e obtained along arcs at 200, 800, 1600, and 3200 m f r o m the poifit of emission. Samplers were located 1 . 5 m above the ground along the a r c s and sufficiently spaced to define the cross-section of the plume. a network of poles and towers was located at 5 points, 8 degrees apart, on -each of the four arcs. o r tower, the top level increasing from 27 m on t h e 200-m arc to 6 2 m on the the zinc sulfide tracer from near the ground. The release was continued for 1 / 2hr and the samples were removed after the plume had traversed the grid. In addition to the ground sampling, Fifteen to eighteen samplers were mounted on each pole All samplers were activated before the release of

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A major consideration in the Hanford grid design w a s the nature of air flow over the region. The orientation of the grid was based on climatological expectancies which show the dominant influence of a mountain-valley cooling of the Cascade- Eastern Washington valley complex, prevail over the Hanford area and are markedly different in origin from the land-sea wind regime of the off-site testing areas. Northwesterly winds, resulting from differential heating o r Off-site work w a s introduced during 1 9 6 1 and 1 9 6 2 , when the Atmospheric Physics Operation was contracted by the Air F o r c e to perform atmospheric diffusion tests at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base. The development of advanced missile systems h a s created a potential pollution problem at these sites from accidental release of toxic fuels. The results of the diffusion experiments along with measurements of average wind speed, average wind direction, and variability of wind direction, and vertical differences of temperature, formed the basis of a computer controlled pollution hazard prediction …