SREL Reprint #1757

To remediate or not: a case history

F. W. Whicker, D. J. Niquette, and T. G. Hinton 

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina 

Abstract: This presentation will deal with the generic issue of cleanup standards for radioactively contaminated ecosystems. It will present a case history for a former reactor cooling reservoir, Par Pond, at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Par Pond was contaminated with low levels of 137Cs, 90Sr, and transuranics from 1954 to 1964. It was hydrologically stable for about 33 yr and was of significant value to fish and wildlife populations until it was partially drained in 1991. The partial drainage created 1300 acres (5.3 km2) of exposed sediments and led to its declaration as a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) operable unit in early 1992.
The situation has led to potentially conflicting interfaces between public perception, scientific facts, political and economic forces, and regulatory processes. The future of Par Pond is now unclear, but its fate has far-reaching implications for large acreages of ecologically valuable resources at DOE sites contaminated with trace quantities of anthropogenic radioactivity.

SREL Reprint #1757

Whicker, F. W., D. J. Niquette, and T. G. Hinton. 1993. To remediate or not: a case history. pp. 473-485 In: R.L. Kathren, D.H. Denham, and K. Salmon (Eds.). Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Midyear Topical Meeting of the Health Physics Society: Environmental Health Physics. Coeur d'Alene, ID.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).