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| Historical Perspective |
Test
Area North (TAN) was established in the 1950s to support the federal
government's program to build and fly a nuclear powered airplane.
Although that project was cancelled in the 1960s, prior to completion,
many other projects and activities have been hosted at Test Area
North.
The Loss
of Fluid Test Reactor, which was a smaller scale version of a commercial
power reactor, completed nearly 40 reactor accident experiments
in the 1960s and 1970s.
Scientists
and engineers at TAN examined the fuel and core debris from the
Three Mile Island Unit 2 core after the accident in 1979.
Other reactor
research facilities at TAN have included the Containment Test Facility
and the Water Reactor Research Test Facility. |
Test Area North is located approximately 52 miles
northwest of Idaho Falls. |
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| Current Activities |
As
of January 2004, there were about 350 Department of Energy-Idaho
(DOE-ID), Bechtel BWXT Idaho (BBWI), and subcontractor employees
at TAN. One of the main missions at the TAN now is the manufacture
of tank armor for the U.S. Army's battle tanks at the Specific Manufacturing
Capability Project. This project has produced over 3,000 armor packages
with 100 percent quality acceptance by the army.
Another key
current mission at TAN is the cleanup of contaminated areas and
removal of facilities that are no longer required for INL missions.
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| Waste Management Activities
Related to Settlement Agreement |
| The only remaining Settlement
Agreement issue at TAN is the management of some spent
nuclear fuel that is currently in dry storage at the facility.
In the near future this spent fuel will be removed from TAN to a consolidated
dry storage location at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering
Center. This spent fuel must be removed from Idaho by 2035. |
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| Remediation Status |
| Remediation
activities at TAN, which is included within Waste
Area Group 1, include the removal, treatment and disposal of
several tanks containing sludge with radioactive and hazardous constituents.
The tanks will be excavated and an oxidation process will be used
to treat the sludge. Following treatment, the tanks will be disposed
of in an approved hazardous waste landfill, such as the INL CERCLA
Disposal Facility.
Some
soil areas contaminated with radionuclides and petroleum products
also require remediation. The longest-term remediation activity
will be the continued treatment of a contaminant plume in the aquifer
below TAN. This action will reduce volatile organic compound (VOC)
contamination in the aquifer to below maximum contamination levels
(MCLs) using in-situ bioremediation, natural attenuation, and pump
and treat technologies. |
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| Radionuclide Emission Sources
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| The main radionuclide emission source
at TAN is the tank armor manufacturing process. Radioactive air emissions
are reported in the annual National Emissions Standards for Hazardous
Air Pollutants-Radionuclides report. |
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| Future Missions |
| After the cleanup and deactivation
missions are completed at TAN, the only currently-planned future mission
is the continuation of the tank armor project for the army. The remainder
of the facility will be deactivated, with some facilities remaining
that have potential for use in the future nuclear energy research
mission of the INL. |
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| INL Oversight Monitoring at
TAN |
| INL Oversight performs a variety of
environmental monitoring activities in the vicinity of TAN. Monitoring
results are made available to the public in quarterly
and annual environmental monitoring reports. |
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Radiation
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| INL Oversight monitors ambient penetrating
radiation on and around the INL using Electret Ion Chambers (EIC's).
EIC's are placed at each facility and at approximately two-mile intervals
around the perimeter of the site. These devices are collected each
quarter and processed to determine the quarterly total ambient penetrating
radiation exposure for each location. Additionally, High Pressure
Ion Chambers (HPIC's) at several locations around the INL provide
real-time radiation levels that can be monitored
remotely. |
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Soil
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Soil
monitoring is performed to determine the presence and extent of
man-made radionuclides in the terrestrial environment. The INL contractor
performs periodic soil sampling and in-situ monitoring
at and near the INL facilities. INL Oversight performs monitoring
at a fraction of the contractor monitoring sites for verification
of the contractor's reported results. |
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Air
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| Air monitoring is performed to determine
the presence and extent of man-made radionuclides in the atmosphere.
INL Oversight maintains an array of air monitoring stations on and
around the perimeter of the INL. The nearest air monitoring stations
to TAN are located at the Sand Dunes and Terraton/Mud Lake Monitoring
Stations. Air samples are analyzed for the presence and concentration
of atmospheric tritium, radioactive iodine, and suspended particulate
matter for gross alpha and gross beta, gamma radionuclides, and annually
for strontium-90, americium-241, plutonium-238, and plutonium-239/240.
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Water
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From
1953 through the early 1980s, a range of volatile organic compounds—as
well as strontium-90, cesium-137, tritium and uranium isotopes,
and treated sanitary wastes—were disposed of to an injection
well at TAN. Ground water beneath TAN is now contaminated with a
range of volatile organic compounds (primarily trichloroehtlyene
or TCE, tetrachloroethylene or PCE, cis-1,2-dichloroethene or cis-DCE,
trans-1,2-dichloroethene or trans-DCE), tritium and strontium-90.
Concentrations of chloride and sulfates are also elevated due to
historic waste disposal practices. INL Oversight analyzes water
samples from eight wells and one effluent location at TAN to track
the status of the condition of the aquifer. |
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