Past radioactive particle contamination in the Columbia river at the Hanford site, USA.

ABSTRACT

One closed-loop and eight single-pass plutonium production reactors originally operated on the Columbia river. During the 26 years of single-pass reactor operations, small amounts of radioactive particles were released in liquid discharges to the Columbia river and were deposited in sediment and cobble along the shoreline and on islands in the river. Islands located adjacent to D island and immediately downstream of D island had the greatest density of particles. In 1979, the small particles contained between 63 and 890 kBq of cobalt-60 activity. Dose rates emanating from those particles ranged from 1 to 14 microGy h(-1). Because of the short half-life of cobalt-60 (5.3 y), the hot-particle problem at Hanford has taken care of itself through radiological decay. Some scientists have proposed that it is economically and environmentally advantageous to manage isolated low-level contaminated sites with institutional controls until the activity decays and the sites can be released rather than to pursue expensive clean-up options.