Operational strategy for soil concentration predictions of strontium/yttrium-90 and cesium-137 in surface soil at the West Valley Demonstration Project site

There are difficulties associated with the assessment of the interpretation of field measurements, determination of guideline protocols and control and disposal of low level radioactive contaminated soil in the environmental health physics field. Questions are raised among scientists and in public forums concerning the necessity and high costs of large area soil remediation versus the risks of low-dose radiation health effects. As a result, accurate soil activity assessments become imperative in decontamination situations. The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), a US Department of Energy facility located in West Valley, New York is managed and operated by West Valley Nuclear Services Co., Inc. (WVNS). WVNS has identified contaminated on-site soil areas with a mixed variety of radionuclides (primarily fission product). Through the use of data obtained from a previous project performed during the summer of 1994 entitled ''Field Survey Correlation and Instrumentation Response for an In Situ Soil Measurement Program'' (Myers), the WVDP offers a unique research opportunity to investigate the possibility of soil concentration predictions based on exposure or count rate responses returned from a survey detector probe. In this study, correlations are developed between laboratory measured soil beta activity and survey probe response for the purposes of determining the optimal detector for field use and using these correlations to establish predictability of soil activity levels