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SECTION 11: ANTHROPOGENIC RADIOACTIVITY: MAJOR PLUME SOURCE POINTS 

Except the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident of April 26, 1986: See RAD 10

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. General Bibliography
  3. Nuclear Weapons Test Explosions

  4. A. Marshall Islands
    B. Johnston Atoll
  5. Nuclear Power Plants

  6. A. United States Nuclear Power Plants
    1. Maine Yankee
    2. Connecticut Yankee
    3. Three Mile Island
    4. Other Citations about U.S. Nuclear Power Plants
    5. Safety Issues at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants
        a. Reactor Embrittlement
        b. Spent Fuel Cladding Failure
        c. Steam Generator Degradation Mechanisms
        d. LORCAs and Spent Fuel Cooling
        e. Hot Particles
        f. Spent Fuel Storage and Disposal (Dry Casks/Multi Purpose Casks, etc.)
        g. MOX
    1.  Nuclear Regulatory Commission Publications (if not listed in any of the above categories)
    B. Canadian Nuclear Power Plants
    C. Russian Nuclear Power Plants
    D. Japanese Nuclear Power Plants
    E. European Nuclear Power Plants
    G. Biological Monitoring (see extensive citations in RAD7: Plume Pulse Pathways)
  7. United States Military Source Points

  8. A. U.S. Military: General Bibliography
    1. The Plutonium enigma
    2. The Plutonium enigma: Part 2
    3. Deepwell Injection
    B. U.S. Military: Specific Source Points
    1. Argonne National Laboratory
    2. Fernald, Ohio
    3. Hanford Reservation, Washington State
    4. Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
    5. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    6. Los Alamos National Laboratory
    7. Maxey Flats, Kentucky
    8. Moab, Utah
    9. Mound Laboratory, Miamisburg, Ohio
    10. Midwest Fuel Recovery Plant (MFRP), Morris, Illinois
    11. Nevada Test Site
    12. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee
    13. Pantex, Amarillo, Texas
    14. Rocky Flats, Colorado
    15. Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico
    16. Savannah River Plant, S. Carolina
    17. West Valley, New York
  9. Russian Military Source Points
    1. Kyshtym 1957
    2. Karachay Lake Wind Transfer
    3. Techa River
    4. Chelyabinsk
    5. Kola Peninsula
    6. Krasnoyarsk
    7. Novaya Zemlya Test Site
    8. Semipalatinsk Test Site
    9. Tomsk
    10. Sosnovyy Bor
    11. Vladivostok
  10. United Kingdom Source Points
    1. Dounreay
    2. Sellafield (Windscale) Fuel Reprocessing Facility
  11. Marine Radioactive Waste Dump Sites
    1. Russian Ocean Dumping Sites
  12. Nuclear Submarine Accidents and Dump Sites
  13. Nuclear Powered Satellite Accidents
  14. Uranium Mining, Milling, and Processing
  15. Depleted Uranium
  16. Sealed Sources, Devices and Radioactive Scrap
    1. SNAP Power Generators
    2. Scrap Metal
    3. Medical
    4. Food and Irradiation
    5. Industrial Measuring
    6. Other
  17. Other Important Foreign and Miscellaneous Source Points
    1. French and Israeli Military Source Points
    2. Canadian Source Points
    3. Cap de la Hague
    4. Goiania, Brazil
    5. Palomares, Spain
    6. Rosyth, United Kingdom
    7. Thule, Greenland
  18. Sabotage and Terrorism
  19. Missing Weapons Production High-Level Waste
  20. Sewage Sludge
1. INTRODUCTION
Memo: One PBq = 1x 1015 disintegration's per second (Becquerels) = 27,000 Curies. With world wide inventories of spent fuel and weapons production high-level wastes now approaching 100 billion curies, use of the prefixes "P" (peta: 1015) and "E" (exo: 1018) to describe becquerels of waste is unwieldy and misleading. Expressing 100 billion curies of high-level waste as 3,700 EBq is not only absurd, it obfuscates the significance and the presence of these contained and uncontained wastes, especially for lay persons who are likely to suffer from psychic numbing while trying to differentiate the orders of magnitude implied by M,E,G,P,T. RADNET readers who can assign the proper order of magnitude to these letters without looking them up in RADNET Section 4, please send a postcard to the Center for Biological Monitoring: if you visit Mount Desert Island we will award you a free day pass to Acadia National Park.
2. GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aarkrog, A., Botter-Jensen, L., Chen Qing Jang, Dahlgaard, H., Hansen, H., Holm E., Lauridsen, B., Nielsen, S.P. and Sogaard-Hansen, J. (1991). Environmental radioactivity in Denmark in 1988 and 1989. Riso-R-570. Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark.

Aarkrog, A. (1992). Source terms and inventories of anthropogenic radionuclides. Report No. DK-4000. Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark.

Aarkrog, A., Botter-Jensen, L., Jiang, Chen Quing, Dahlgaard, H., Hansen, H., Holm, E., Lauridsen, B., Nielsen, S.P., Strandberg, M. and Sogaard-Hansen, J. (1992). Environmental radioactivity in Denmark in 1990 and 1991. Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark. Aarkrog, A., Dahlgaard, H., Frissel, M., Foulquier, L., Kulikov, N.V., Molchanova, I.V., Myttenaere, C., Nielsen, S.P., Polikarpov, G.G. and Yushkov, P.I. (1992). Sources of Anthropogenic Radionuclides in the Southern Urals. J. Environ. Radioactivity, 15, pg. 69-80. Aarkrog, A., Tsaturov, Y. and Polikarpov, G.G. (1993). Sources to environmental radioactive contamination in the former USSR. Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark. Aarkrog, A. (1994). Radioactivity in polar regions - Main sources. J. Environ. Radioactivity, 25, pg. 21-35. Aarkrog, A., Bøtter-Jensen, L., Chen Qing Jiang, Clausen, J., Dahlgaard, H., Hansen, H., Holm, E., Lauridsen, B., Nielsen, S.P., Strandberg, M. and  Søgaard-Hansen, J. (1995). Environmental radioactivity in Denmark in 1992 and 1993. Risø-R-756(EN). Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark.

Albright, D., Berkhout, F. and Walker, W. (1993). World inventory of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, 1992. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Borson, D. et. al. (1990). Payment due: a reactor-by-reactor assessment of the nuclear industry's $25+ billion decommissioning bill. Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project. Washington, DC. pp. 88.

Broden, K., Carugati, S., Brodersen, K., Carlsson, T., Viitanen, P., Walderhaug, T., Sneve, M., Hornkjol, S., and Backe, S. (November 18, 1997). Characterisation of long-lived low and intermediate-level radioactive wastes in the nordic countries. NKS/AFA (97)8. Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark.

Burke, P., Ed. (1988). The nuclear weapons world: Who, how & where. Oxford Research Group, London.

Cochran, T.B., Arkin, W.M., Norris, R.S. and Hoenig, M.M. (1987). Nuclear Weapons Databook. Vol. 3, U.S. nuclear warhead facilities profiles. Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Davis, M.D. (1988). The military-civilian nuclear link: A guide to the French nuclear industry. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.

de la Court, T., Pick, D. and Nordquist, D. (1982). The nuclear fix: a guide to nuclear activities in The Third World. WISE Publications, Amsterdam.

DiNunno, Joseph J. (June 1997). Integrated safety management. DNFSB/TECH-16. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Washington, D.C.

Eisenbud, M. and Gesell, T. (1997). Environmental radioactivity: from natural, industrial, and military sources. Fourth edition. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Feshbach, M. and Friendly, Jr., A. (1992). Ecocide in the USSR. Basic Books, New York.

International Atomic Energy Agency. (1971). Disposal of radioactive wastes into rivers, lakes and estuaries. (Safety Series No. 36). IAEA, Vienna.

International Joint Commission. (December 1997). Inventory of radionuclides for the Great Lakes. Nuclear Task Force of the International Joint Commission. Washington, DC. International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). (1991). Radioactive Heaven and Earth. A Report of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War International Commission to Investigate the Health and Environmental Effects of Nuclear Weapons Production. Apex Press, New York. pg. 45, 67.

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER). (1992). Plutonium: deadly gold of the nuclear age. International Physicians Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Kouts, Herbert J. C. and DiNunno, Joseph J. (October 6, 1995). Safety management and conduct of operations at the Department of Energy's defense nuclear facilities. DNFSB/TECH-6. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Washington, D.C.

Leskov, S. (June 1993). Nuclear dumping: lies and incompetence. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. pg. 13.

Makhijani, A. and Makhijani, A. (January, 1995). Fissile materials in a glass, darkly: technical and policy aspects of the disposition of plutonium and highly enriched uranium. Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Takoma Park, Maryland.

Makhijani, A. (1996). Heading off the plutonium peril. Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER).

Makhijani, A. (February, 1997). Technical aspects of the use of weapons plutonium as a reactor fuel. Science for Democratic Action. An IEER (Institute for Energy and Environmental Research) publication. 5(4). p. 1-7. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (1996). Radioactivity in food and the environment, 1995. RIFE-1. MAFF, London.

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Scottish Environment Protection Agency. (1997). Radioactivity in food and the environment, 1996. RIFE-2. MAFF and SEPA, London.

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Scottish Environment Protection Agency. (September 1998). Radioactivity in food and the environment, 1997. RIFE-3. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, MAFF and SEPA, London.

National Academy of Sciences. (1971). Radioactivity in the marine environment. Panel on Radioactivity in the Marine Environment, National Academy of Sciences, New York. OECD, NRC and IAEA. (April, 1996). Future financial liabilities of nuclear activities. 66-96-05-1. ISBN 92-64-14795-0. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris. pp. 103.

Saleska, S. et. al. (1989). Nuclear legacy: an overview of the places, politics, and problems of radioactive waste in the United States. Public Citizen, Washington, D.C.

U. S. Congress, OTA (Office of Technology Assessment). (September, 1993). Dismantling the bomb and managing nuclear materials. OTA-O-572. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

U. S. Department of Energy. (September, 1988). Environmental survey: preliminary summary report of the defense production facilities. DOE/EH-0072. U. S. DOE, Washington, D.C.

U. S. Department of Energy. (1991). Final report on DOE nuclear facilities. Advisory Committee on Nuclear Facility Safety to the U.S. DOE, Washington, D.C.
 
3. NUCLEAR WEAPONS TEST EXPLOSIONS

A question for readers pursuing this section of RADNET:

Asker Aarkrog of the Riso National Laboratory in Denmark, in his 1988 comparison of Chernobyl debris with nuclear weapons fallout (Aarkrog, 1988, JER, p. 151-162) notes that 740 PBq of 137Cs was released to the northern hemisphere from 423 atmospheric nuclear test explosions. In another Riso National Laboratory publication, (Aarkrog, 1993, "Sources to Environmental Contamination in the former USSR", p. 37; annotated in part 8 of this section) Aarkrog estimates that the 87 nuclear explosions detonated at Novaya Zemlya alone released 370 PBq 90Sr and 560 PBq 137Cs. Did the other 336 test explosions only release an additional 180 PBq of 137Cs?

Aarkrog also makes the following observations: "The integrated deposition density in the 50 to 60 N latitude band is 2.9 kBq 90Sr m-2. (UNSCEAR,1982) In 1990, the cumulative deposit had decayed to 1.5 kBq 90Sr m-2. The corresponding level of 137Cs fallout is a factor of 1.6 times higher, i.e. 2.4 kBq m-2 at present... the cumulative deposit of 239,240Pu is 52 Bq m-2." (Aarkrog, et al. 1992, p. 70)



Aarkrog, A. (1990). Source terms and inventories of anthropogenic nuclides. Report No. DK-4000. Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark.
 
Nuclear Weapons Testing Fission Yield and Waste Production:
Nuclide Half-life Representative fission yield (%) Normalized production (PBq per Mt fission energy)
Sr-89 50.5 d 2.56 590
Sr-90 28.6 a 3.50 3.9
Zr-95 64.0 d 5.07 920
Ru-103 39.4 d 5.20 1500
Ru-106 368 d 2.44 78
I-131 8.04 d 2.90 4200
Cs-136 13.2 d 0.036 32
Cs-137 30.2 a 5.57 5.9
Ba-140 12.8 d 5.18 4700
Ce-141 32.5 d 4.58 1600
Ce-144 284 d 4.69 190
Bernstein, A. and Gronlund, Lisbeth. (November 8, 1996). Comments by the Union of Concerned Scientists on the DOE Draft Nonproliferation and Arms Control Assessment of Weapons-Usable Fissile Material Storage and Disposition Alternatives and Letter from the SEAB Task Force. Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, MA. Bowen, V.T., Noshkin, V.E., Livingston, H.D. and Volchok, H.L. (1980). Fallout radionuclides in the Pacific Ocean: Vertical and horizontal distributions, largely from GEOSECS stations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 49. pg. 411-434.
 
1973-74 N. Pacific Mean concentration in seawater 239Pu 0.68 d.p.m./100kg s.w.
1978 N. Pacific Mean concentration in seawater 239Pu 0.13 d.p.m./100kg s.w.
1973-74 N. Pacific Mean concentration in seawater 137Cs 55.6 d.p.m./100kg s.w.
1978 N. Pacific Mean concentration in seawater 137Cs 44.6 d.p.m./100kg s.w.
Farber, S.A. and Hodgon, A.D. (1991). Cesium-137 in wood ash: Results of a national study. Yankee Atomic Electric Company, Bolton, Massachusetts. Farrington, J.W., Goldberg, E.D., Riseborough, R.W., Martin, J.H. and Bowen, V.T. (1983). U.S. "Mussel Watch" 1976-1978: An overview of the trace-metal, DDE, PCB, hydrocarbon and artificial radionuclide data. Environ. Sci. Technol. 17. pg. 490-496. Fradkin, P. (1989). Fallout: an American nuclear tragedy. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Hardy, E.P. Jr. (May 1, 1981). Environmental Measurements Laboratory: Environmental report. Department of Energy, New York, N.Y.

International Atomic Energy Agency. (1998). The radiological situation at the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa: Reports by an International Advisory Committee: Radiological Assessment Reports Series. STI/PUB/1028/ES. IAEA, Austria.

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). (September, 1992). Nuclear test tally 1992. Vital Signs. IPPNW, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 5(3) pg. 4.

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER). (1991). Radioactive heaven and earth: the health and environmental effects of nuclear weapons testing in, on, and above the earth. The Apex Press, New York.

Livingston, H.D. and Bowen, V.T. (1979). Pu and 137Cs in coastal sediments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 43, 29-45.
 
1973 Buzzard Bay 0-2 cm Sediment core 239,240Pu 160 d.p.m./kg dry sediment

Machta, L. and Telegada, K. (1970). Radioiodine levels in the U.S. public health service pasteurized milk network from 1963-1968 and their relationship to possible sources. Health Physics. 19, pg. 469-485.
 
April 14, 1965 Palanquin, NV Milk 131I 11,000 pCi/l
April 23, 1963 Pin stripe, NV Milk 131I 4,800 pCi/l
Makhijani, A., Hu, H. and Yih, K. (1995). Nuclear wastelands: A global guide to nuclear weapons production and its health and environmental effects. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA. Miller, Pam. Return to Amchitka -- A Greenpeace Report. 1436 U Street, NW, Washington, DC. Momoshima, N. and Takashima, Y. (1986). Radionuclide concentrations in several seaweeds and their annual variations. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. 99(2). pg. 367-377. National Cancer Institute. (August 1, 1997). Estimated exposures and thyroid doses received by the American people from Iodine-131 in fallout following Nevada atmospheric nuclear bomb tests. NCI, National Institute of Health, Washington, D.C. Norris, R.S. and Arkin, W.M. (May 1992). Nuclear notebook: Proposed U.S. and C.I.S. strategic forces. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. pg. 48-49.

Noshkin, V.E. (1972). Ecological aspects of plutonium dissemination in aquatic environments. Health Physics, 22, 537-549.
 
1964 Bikini Snapper (live) 239Pu 7000 pCi//kg wet
1970 Cape Cod Striped bass (backbone) 239Pu 0.2 pCi/kg

Roos, P., Holm, E., Persson, R.B.R., Aarkrog, A. and Nielsen, S.P. (1994). Deposition of 210Pb, 137Cs, 239+240Pu,238Pu and 241Am in the Antarctic Peninsula area. J. Environ. Radioactivity. 24(3). pg. 235-252.
 
1989 Livingstone Island Grass and soil 137Cs 392 Bq/m2
1989 Livingstone Island Lichen 239Pu 11.60 Bq/m2
United States Department of Energy. (1994). United States nuclear weapons tests, July 1945 through December 1992. Report No. DOE/NV-209, Rev. 14. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. United States Department of Energy. (October 1, 1996). Draft nonproliferation and arms control assessment of weapons-usable fissile material storage and plutonium disposition alternatives. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C.

United States Department of Energy. (February 1998). Accelerating cleanup: Paths to closure. DOE/EM-0342. Office of Environmental Management, U.S. DOE, Washington, DC.

Venter, A. J. (March 31, 1999). New generation of nuclear weapons from radioactive waste. Jane's Defence Weekly. 31(13).

A. Marshall Islands

An entire issue of Health Physics (vol. 72 no. 7, July 1997) has been devoted to the history of atomic weapons testing in the Marshall Islands, which include the Bikini Test Site, Enewetak Atoll, and other northern Marshall Islands atolls. Testing began in 1946 and lasted until 1958. Topics include the history of weapons testing, radiological monitoring, dose assessment, health effects and environmental studies at these test sites. Several of the contributed papers are cited below. Abstracts of all the papers in this and other Health Physics issues can be downloaded from http://www.wwilkins.com/.

Donaldson, Lauren R., Seymour, Allyn H. and Nevissi, Ahmad E. (July 1997). University of Washington's radioecological studies in the Marshall Islands, 1946-1977. Health Physics. 72(7).

Eisenbud, Merril. (July 1997). Monitoring distant fallout: The role of the Atomic Energy Commission Health and Safety Laboratory during the Pacific tests, with special attention to the events following BRAVO. Health Physics. 72(7).

Niedenthal, Jack. (July 1997). A history of the people of Bikini following nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands: With recollections and views of elders of Bikini Atoll. Health Physics. 72(7).

Noshkin, V.E., et. al. (July 1997). Past and present levels of some radionuclides in fish from Bikini and Enewetak Atolls. Health Physics. 72(7).

Noshkin, V.E. and Robison, W.L. (July 1997). Assessment of a radioactive waste disposal site at Enewetak Atoll. Health Physics. 72(7).

Robison, W.L., et. al. (July 1997). The northern Marshall Islands radiological survey: Data and dose assessments. Health Physics. 72(7).

Simon, Steven, L. (July 1997). A brief history of people and events related to atomic weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. Health Physics. 72(7).

Simon, Steven L. and Graham, J.C. (July 1997). Findings of the first comprehensive radiological monitoring program of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Health Physics. 72(7).

United States Energy Research and Development. (1975). Preliminary external-dose estimates for future Bikini Atoll inhabitants. Preliminary report No. UCRL-51879. USERD.
 
B. Johnston Atoll

Johnston Atoll consists of four islands 825 miles southwest of Hawaii.  Currently, it is managed by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services as a National Wildlife Refuge.  It has been used by the military since the mid-1930's, and was the site of several air atomic tests during the early 1960's.  It is the site of JACADS (Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System) for the destruction of chemical weapons.  JACADS is run by the U.S. Army's Chemical Stockpile Disposal Project, and expects its stockpile of chemical weapons to all be destroyed by 2000.

Field, Michael. (March 18, 1999). Lonely Pacific atolls deadly weapons nearly gone but leakages remain. Agence France Presse.


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