2005 Salt Lake City Annual Meeting (October 16–19, 2005)

Paper No. 3
Presentation Time: 4:05 PM

RADIONUCLIDE DISPERSION RATES BY AEOLIAN, FLUVIAL, AND POROUS MEDIA TRANSPORT


WALTON, John1, GOODELL, Philip2, BESHEARS, Charles3, FRENCH, Diana3 and KELTS, Aaron3, (1)Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. Texas @ El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, (2)Geological Sciences, Univ of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, (3)Dept. of Geological Sciences, Univ of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, walton@utep.edu

Radionuclide transport was measured from high grade uranium ore boulder at the Nopal I Site, Pena Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico. High grade uranium ore boulders were left behind after removal of a uranium ore stockpile from near Nopal I. During the 25 years when the boulder was present radionuclides were released and transported by sheetflow during precipitation events, wind blown resuspension, and infiltration into the unsaturated zone. In this study, one of the boulders was removed followed by grid sampling of the surrounding area. Measured gamma radiation levels in three dimensions were used to derive separate dispersion rates by the three transport mechanisms.