Inventory of Radionuclides in Bottom Sediment of the Clinch River Eastern Tennessee GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 433-1 Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Inventory of Radionuclides in Bottom Sediment of the Clinch River Eastern Tennessee By P. H. CARRIGAN, JR. TRANSPORT OF RADIONUCLIDES BY STREAMS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 433-1 Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1969 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WALTER J. HICKEL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 35 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Abstract _ _ ________________ II Results continued Introduction. _______________ 1 Retention factors.______________________________ 112 Acknowledgments___ _______ 3 Distribution of radionuclides_____________________ 13 Coring procedures and results.. 4 Longitudinal distribution.___________________ 13 Selection of sampling sites. 4 Vertical distribution_______________________ 14 Coring tools____________ 5 Contribution to inventory from reaches outside of Results of coring. ________ 5 study reach__________________________________ 14 Core processing_____________ 7 Distribution of sediment..-_______________________ 15 Computation of inventory. 9 Physical properties____________________________ 16 Results. _____________________ 11 Future estimation of radionuclide loading-_____________ 16 Inventory of identified radionuelides __ 11 Conclusions._______________________________________ 17 Estimate of accuracy of inventory. 11 References.._______________________________________ 18 ILLUSTRATIONS FIGTJBE 1. Index map showing study area; low-level radioactive waste waters are released through Whiteoak Dam_ _____ 12 2. Map showing 14 sampling sections in Clinch River___________________________________________________ 4 3. Graph of sampling sections located in reaches of high, low, and transitional levels of radioactivity. _ __________ 4 4. Graph of coring penetration, sample recovery, and distribution of sediment and of radioactivity at Clinch River mile 7.5__-_______________-______-____-____________-_________-_---__--___________-_-____ 5. Photograph showing coring from barrel float-______________________________---_-_-_---_-_--_----____ 6. Diagram showing scanner for detection of gamma radiation in core______________-___-_-__-__---______ 8 7. Photograph showing masonry saw cutting frozen cores.______________________________________________ 8 8. Diagram showing methods of determining length, width, and thickness of subvolumes____________________ 10 9-14. Graphs: 9. Similarities in longitudinal distribution of radionuclides_______________________________________ 13 10. Longitudinal distributions of cesium-137, determined through different sampling techniques, are much alike______________________________________________________________________________ 14 11. Concentration bears a nearly direct relationship to sediment thickness___________________________ 14 12. Sediment thickness in the downstream direction____________________________________________ 15 13. Cross-sectional area of radioactive sediment-________________________________________________ 16 14. Time required to accumulate 2.6 feet of sediment over a given proportion of surface area. ___________ 17 TABLES TABLE 1. Yearly discharges of radionuclides to the Clinch River________________________________________________ 13 2. Numbers of sampling sites, of samples used in computations, and of truncated cores used in computations for each sampling section-_______________________________________________________________________ 7 3. Method of estimating depth of radioactivity of truncated cores collected in the Clinch River________________ 11 4. Quantity of total identified radioactivity and volume of radioactive sediment in subreaches_________________ 12 5. Areal distribution of radioactive sediments, for selected thicknesses.____________________________________ 16 in TRANSPORT OF RADIONUCLIDES BY STREAMS INVENTORY OF RADIONUCLIDES IN BOTTOM SEDIMENT OF THE CLINCH RIVER EASTERN TENNESSEE By P. H. CAKKIGAN, JK. ABSTRACT posed of representatives of each of the participating An inventory has been made of the radionuclides associated agencies (Morton, 1963, p. 1) established the following with bottom sediment in the lower Clinch River. The reach in­ objectives: (1) To determine the fate of radioactive cluded in this inventory extends 21 miles from the mouth of materials currently being discharged to the Clinch the river to the mouth of Whiteoak Creek. River, (2) to determine and understand the mecha­ The source of the radionuclides in the sediments was the release of low-level-radioactive waste waters from the Oak nisms of dispersion of radionuclides released to the Ridge National Laboratory into Whiteoak Creek basin and river, (3) to evaluate the direct and indirect hazards of thence into the river via Whiteoak Lake. current disposal practices in the river, (4) to evaluate Results of the inventory indicate that the following quantities the overall usefulness of the river for radioactive waste of radioactivity were associated with the bottom sediment in disposal purposes, (5) to provide appropriate conclu­ July 1962: 150 curies of cesium-137; 18 curies of cobalt-60; 16 curies of ruthenium-106; at least 10 curies of rare earths; and sions regarding long-term monitoring procedures. 2.9 curies of strontium-90. Most of the radioactivity was found Work described in this report was part of a coopera­ to be downstream from mile 15; about 95 percent of the identi­ tive program with the Health Physics Division, ORNL; fied radioactivity was in this reach. Maximum concentration the Oak Ridge Operations Office, AEC; and the Divi­ of radioactivity occurred near the mouth of Whiteoak Creek. A high proportion of cesium-137 (21 percent), rare earths sion of Reactor Development and Technology, AEC. (about 25 percent), and cobalt-60 (9 percent) released to the The release of low-level-radioactive liquid waste to river are retained in bottom sediment of the study reach. Reten­ the basin of Whiteoak Creek, which drains the ORNL tion of ruthenium-106 and strontium-90 is minor--less than 1 area, was begun soon after establishment of the Labora­ percent each. tory in 1943 for the processing of radioactive materials. INTRODUCTION Radioactive liquids have entered Whiteoak Creek as a This report describes a contribution of the U.S. Geo­ result of direct releases of processed waste water from logical Survey to the Clinch Eiver Study. The Clinch the Laboratory, seepage from liquid waste holdup pits, River Study was a multiagency effort to evaluate the and drainage from solid-waste disposal trenches past, present, and future use of the Clinch Eiver for dis­ (Browder, 1959). posal of low-level-radioactive liquid waste from the Oak Throughout most of the Laboratory's history, the Ridge National Laboratory, which is in eastern Ten­ waters of Whiteoak Creek have been impounded in nessee (Morton, 1961, 1962b, 1963) and is operated by Whiteoak Lake by Whiteoak Dam, which is located 0.6 Union Carbide Corp. for the U.S. Atomic Energy Com­ mile upstream from the mouth of the creek. The lake mission. The agencies that participated in the study are: was created as a holdup facility for the radioactive Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Tennessee waste carried in the creek water. Radioactive waste Game and Fish Commission; Tennessee State Depart­ waters in Whiteoak Creek flow into the Clinch River at ment of Public Health, Stream Pollution Control a point 3.3 miles downstream from fche Laboratory area. Board; Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) ; U.S. The diluted wastes in the Clinch River flow into the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC); U.S. Geological Tennessee River 20.8 miles downstream from the entry Survey (USGS); and U.S. Public Health Service of Whiteoak Creek. (PHS). The continuous release of radioactive wastes to the When the study was begun in 1960, the Clinch River Clinch River during nearly 20 years of Laboratory op­ Study Steering Committee, an advisory group com­ erations has provided a unique opportunity for studying II 12 TRANSPORT OF RADIONTJCLIDES BY STREAMS the effects of such releases on the river and the effects of activity in surface layers of Clinch River bottom sedi­ the physical, chemical, hydrologic, and biological ment by Cottrell (1959) suggested that accumulation of characteristics of the river on the fate of the radio­ radioactive sediment might be occurring. active materials. In 1960, coring of the Clinch River bottom sediment Since 1943 part of the radioactive materials released was undertaken at selected sites to explore more fully from OENL through Whiteoak Dam (fig. 1) have be­ the possibility of accumulation of radioactive sedi­ come associated with bottom sediment of the Clinch ment. Variations in vertical distribution of radioac­ River. tivity in a few cores strongly implied accumulation of First indications of association of radionuclides with radioactive deposits in the riverbed (Carrigan and riverbed sediment came from work by Garner and others, (1967). Kochtitzky (1956). They made measurements, annually, Partial inventory (upper strata) of radionuclides in of levels of radiation from the surface of the bottom Clinch River bottom sediment, derived from analysis of sediment