46 TRANSURANIC ELEMENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT 



The need for additional data on plutonium dispersal and behavior in the event of an 

 accident with weapons components was recognized early. Examples of early studies 

 designed to provide data for radiological assessments are Operation Plumbbob in 1957 at 

 the Nevada Test Site and Operation Roller Coaster in 1963 at the Tonopah Test Range. 

 Jordan (1971) described the objectives of these tests as being primarily concerned with 

 obtaining data about the dispersion characteristics and biomedical impacts on animals 

 exposed to the airborne plutonium and with evaluating instrumentation and decontam- 

 ination methods. During the design of the experiments, the personnel involved decided 

 not to attempt measurements of resuspension because of the complex nature of the 

 process. Analysis of the data from these tests provided the experience and guidance 

 required to deal with the dispersion of plutonium from nuclear weapons accidents in 

 Palomares, Spain, and Thule. Greenland. In addition, the test areas in Nevada provided 

 research areas for the ongoing study and evaluation of the long-term environmental 

 behavior of the residual plutonium in a desert ecosystem. 



Environmental Assessments, Impact Statements 



With the growth in the number of light water reactors (LWR), the projected recycle of 

 plutonium in LWR, and the projected liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR), the 

 detailed radiological assessments of transuranics increased to keep pace with planned fuel 

 fabrication and fuel reprocessing facilities. Beginning in 1970 the National Environmental 

 Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (U. S. Congress, 1970) required that prior to implementing 

 "major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a 

 detailed statement" must be prepared which addresses the environmental impact, any 

 adverse environmental effects that cannot be avoided, alternatives, relationships between 

 short-term uses and long-term productivity of the environment, and any irreversible and 

 irretrievable commitments of resources. The Council on Environmental Quality (1976) 

 issued guidelines for the preparation of environmental impact statements in 1976. 

 Actions taken in the past by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission and presently by the 

 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U. S. Department of Energy have been 

 considered major actions that significantly affect the human environment. Both the 

 environmental impact statement on the LMFBR program by the U. S. Energy Research 

 and Development Administration (1975) and the environmental statement by the U. S. 

 Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1976) on the use of recycle plutonium in mixed-oxide 

 fuel in light-water-cooled reactors (GESMO) contain radiological assessments that 

 estimate the radiation doses from transuranics. In each case esfimates of the radiological 

 impacts on man were made from data available at the time of the preparation of the 

 environmental impact statement. In most cases the limited data available required that 

 conservative assumptions and extrapolations be used in predicting the impacts as required 

 by NEPA and the CEQ guidelines. These estimates become decision-making tools and are 

 the subject of debate in hearings or litigation for licensing of facilities. 



Generic environmental statements and modeling efforts, such as those carried out by 

 Bloom and Martin (1976), have been based on hypothetical individuals who obtain air, 

 food, and water from the area of maximum transuranic concentration. The estimated 

 radiation dose for such broad studies is usually for transuranics from a postulated source. 

 Existing facilities usually have accumulated some data that describe the source of 

 transuranics. Existing facilities carry out environmental monitoring programs that are 

 designed to detect changes in transuranics and other radionuclides in environmental 



