No Subject

["Miller, Mark L" <mmiller@sandia.gov>]

	I have a document that purports to evaluate Sandia Lab's plan to
apply Long Stewardship Monitoring to an existing inactive landfill, rather
than excavate it and ship the contents somewhere else.  Its conclusions are
interesting, at best.   I will email it to you upon request.   The author
has attempted to use isotope ratios with data never meant for the purpose to
reach his speculative conclusions.  An excerpt follows:
.  
  Executive Summary:
The primary focus of this review is to assess the potential for release of
radionuclides from the mixed waste landfill (MWL) and their effect upon
human health and the environment. Towards this, a large volume of key
documents (publicly available documents) was reviewed.  From a huge database
on the radionuclide concentrations in the soil, water, and air in and around
the mixed-waste landfill, the following observations have been made:
	i)	Based on the evaluation of all the data on the
concentrations of 235U and 238U and activity ratios of 235U/238U in the
groundwater samples, the data appears to indicate that a significant portion
of U in the groundwater samples has a non-natural source (s).
	ii)	The activity ratios of 238Pu and 239,240Pu in the bore hole
soil samples collected below the MWL and analyzed by three different groups
indicate that there is some amount of Pu observed in the bore hole soil
samples and it is likely derived from non-global fallout sources.
	iii)	Based on the activity ratios of 238Pu and 239,240Pu in the
aerosol samples collected at the MWL, it appears that most of the Pu is
derived from non-global fallout sources.
	iv)	The tritium has migrated far and wide from the MWL and it
continues to migrate to adjoining areas.
	v)	Although modeling efforts predicted that the radionuclides
will not migrate more that 30-40 ft from the MWL, presence of non-natural U,
Pu and 90Sr at >100 ft below ground surface indicates that the models are
not well constrained. 
	vi)	The concentrations of any of these nuclides are below the
upper tolerance limit and have not posed any serious threat to the
environment so far. 

Mark L. Miller, Certified Health Physicist
mmiller@sandia.gov
505-284-2107    fax 505-284-2616  cell  505-259-8557
MS-1088


************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html