Colonie Interim Storage Site Annual Site Environmental Report Calendar Year 1985
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406735 DOE/OR/20722-102 COLONIE INTERIM STORAGE SITE ANNUAL SITE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT CALENDAR YEAR 1985 MAY 1986 Prepared for UNITED STATES, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OAK RIDGE OPERATIONS OFFICE Under Contract No. DE-AC05-81OR20722 By Bechtel National, Inc. Advanced Technology Division P. 0. Box 350 Oak Ridge, Tennessee Bechtel Job No. 14501 200.1e Colonie 01.09 0008 lllllllilllllllliaillHlDllWlllIIi; ABSTRACT During 1985, the environmental monitoring program continued at the Colonie Interim Storage Site (CISS), Colonie, New York. The CISS is presently used for the storage of low-level radioactively contaminated soils. Monitoring results show that the CISS is in compliance with DOE concentration guides and radiation standards. DOE Derived Concentration guides represent the concentrations of radionuclides in air or water that would limit the radiation dose to an individual to 100 mrem/year. The applicable limits have been revised since the 1984 monitoring report was published. The limits applied in 1984 were based on a radiation protection standard of 500 mrem/yr; the limits applied for 1985 are based on a standard of 100 mrem/yr. The CISS is part of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), a United States Department of Energy (DOE) program to decontaminate or otherwise control sites where low-level radioactive contamination remains from the early years of the nation's atomic energy program. The environmental monitoring program is carried out by Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI), the Project Management Contractor for FUSRAP. To determine whether the site is in compliance with DOE standards, environmental measurements are expressed as percentages of the applicable Derived Concentration Guide, while the calculated doses to the public are expressed as percentages of the radiation protection standard. The monitoring program at the CISS measures external gamma dose rates, as well as uranium and radium concentrations in surface water, groundwater, and sediment. Potential radiation doses to the public are also calculated. During 1985, the external gamma dose rate at the CISS property boundary ranged from 1 to 71 percent of the radiation protection standard. In off-site surface waters, the highest annual ii average concentrations of depleted uranium and radium-226 were 2.6 and 0.3 percent of the respective DOE Derived Concentration Guides. In groundwater, the highest average concentration of uranium was 0.5 percent of the Derived Concentration Guide, while the highest annual average concentration of radium-226 was 0.4 percent of the Derived Concentration Guide. There are no specific limits for uranium or radium in sediments. However, the cleanup of uranium is being conducted to a 35-pCi/g guideline developed by the DOE and the New York State Department of Environmental Protection. The highest annual average concentration of uranium in sediment (36.6 pCi/g) was slightly above this guideline; however, this concentration was measured inside the fenced area of the site. The cleanup of radium at the CISS is conducted in accordance with the DOE FUSRAP guidelines for radionuclides in soil. The average concentrations of radium were below the guidelines. The highest external gamma dose rate in 1985 was approximately 55 percent of the maximum dose rate measured during 1984. Concentrations of total uranium and radium in off-site surface water were consistent from 1984 to 1985. No direct comparisons oan be made between groundwater data for 1984 and 1985 because different wells were sampled; however, from the usable data available, 1985 concentrations for total uranium and radium were lower than in 1984. The calculated total radiation dose to the maximally exposed individual at the CISS was 17.3 mrem, which is 17.3 percent of the radiation protection standard. The measured background for the CISS area was 87 mrem. Results of 1985 monitoring show that the CISS is in compliance with all DOE Derived Concentration Guides and the radiation protection standard. in TABLE OF CONTENTS Pa9e 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Location and Description 1 1.2 Site History 8 2.0 Summary of Monitoring Results 12 3.0 Data Collection, Analysis, and Evaluation 14 3.1 External Gamma Dose Rates 15 3.2 Water Sampling 18 3.2.1 Surface Water 18 3.2.2 Groundwater 21 3.3 Sediment Sampling 24 3.4 Radiological Exposure 27 3.4.1 Dose to Maximally Exposed Individual 28 3.4.2 Dose to the Population in the Vicinity of the CISS 29 4.0 Related Activities and Special Studies 31 4.1 Related Activities 31 4.2 Special Studies 31 References 32 Appendix A Quality Assurance A-l Appendix B Environmental Standards B-l Appendix C Abbreviations C-l Appendix D Distribution List for Colonie Interim Storage Site Annual Site Environmental Monitoring Report D-l IV LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page 1-1 Map of the CISS Area 2 1-2 Map of the CISS Showing Interim Storage Area 3 1-3 Aerial View of the CISS 4 1-4 Map of Surface Water Drainage in the CISS Area 6 1-5 Annual Wind Rose for Albany, New York 7 1-6 Generalized Land Uses in the Vicinity of the 9 CISS 3-1 External Gamma Radiation Monitoring Locations 16 at the CISS 3-2 Surface Water and Sediment Sampling Locations 19 at the CISS 3-3 Groundwater Sampling Locations at the CISS 22 v LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page 1-1 Waste Volume Projections for the Colonie Site 11 3-1 External Gamma Exposure Rates at the CISS, 17 1985 3-2 Concentrations of Dissolved Total Uranium 20 (Depleted) and Radium-226 in Surface Water at the CISS, 1985 3-3 Concentrations of Dissolved Total Uranium 23 (Depleted) and Radium-226 in Groundwater at the CISS, 1985 3-4 Concentrations of Isotopic Uranium in 25 Sediments at the CISS, 1985 3-5 Concentrations of Radium-226 in Sediments 26 at the CISS, 1985 B-l Radiation Protection Standard and Radioactivity Concentration Guides for the CISS B-2 B-2 Conversion Factors B-3 vi 1.0 INTRODUCTION This report presents the findings of the environmental monitoring program conducted at the Colonie Interim Storage Site (CISS) during calendar year 1985. The first environmental monitoring report for this site presented data for 1984. As part of the research and development decontamination program authorized by Congress under the 1984 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, Bechtel National, Inc., is conducting remedial action at the site and at vicinity properties. The work is being performed as part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), one of four remedial action programs under the direction of the DOE Division of Facility and Site Decommissioning Projects. 1.1 LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION The Colonie Interim Storage Site (CISS) is located at 1130 Central Avenue in the Town of Colonie, New York. It is approximately 6.4 km (4 mi) northwest of downtown Albany and about 4.8 km (3 mi) southeast of the Village of Colonie, as shown in Figure 1-1. The CISS covers 4.5 ha (11.2 acres), consisting of the former National Lead (NL) Industries, Inc. property and buildings where that company manufactured a variety of products from depleted uranium and approximately 0.8 ha (2 acres) of land west of the original property that were acquired by DOE from the Niagara Mohawk Electric Company. Several vicinity properties are also radioactively contaminated as a result of airborne releases 'of depleted uranium compounds produced during operations at the plant. The CISS and the interim storage area are shown in Figure 1-2. Figure 1-3 is an aerial photograph of the site. Site construction activities are conducted in a manner designed to preclude the migration of contaminants from the CISS via groundwater or surface water. During construction, pollution control measures include the use of prudent engineering controls, such as installation of sedimentation barriers in excavation areas and 1 COLONIE, NEW YORK 0 FIGURE 1-1 MAP OF THE CISS AREA 2 DRAWING NOT TO SCALE FIGURE 1-2 MAP OF THE CISS SHOWING INTERIM STORAGE AREA FIGURE 1-3 AERIAL VIEW OF THE CISS discharges of treated, impounded surface water in batches in accordance with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) requirements. The CISS is located within the Patroons Creek drainage basin about 2.6 km (1.6 mi) east of Rensselaer Lake (Figure 1-4). Patroons Creek lies approximately 0.4 km (0.25 mi) south of the site. The surface hydrology of the CISS itself consists of a small stream that enters the site from the northwest through a culvert, flows through an old lake bed, and exits through another culvert on the south side of the site. The stream reappears after passing under the Penn Central railroad tracks and empties into Patroons Creek. The site is underlain by Ordovician shale of the Normanskill Formation at a depth of about 45.7 to 60.9 m (150 to 200 ft). The bedrock is overlain by a 30.5- to 45.7-m (100- to 150-ft) thick layer of unconsolidated deposits of clay and silt (Ref. 1). Groundwater in the vicinity of the site is available in small quantities from the bedrock aquifer, and in moderate-to-large quantities from the unconsolidated deposits (Ref. 2). The groundwater table around the site ranged from about 0.6 to 4.9 m (2 to 16 ft) below ground during borehole drilling in March 1981 (Ref. 3). Depths to water measured in wells installed during November 1984 ranged from 1.1 to 5.5 m (3.5 to 18 ft) below the ground surface (Ref. 4). The groundwater flows to the south or east in the vicinity of the CISS (Refs.