Activation and fission products in the environment near the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Radioactive Waste Management Complex

From 1952 through 1972, solid radioactive waste containing activation and fission radionuclides was interred and stored in the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) Site. In order to help assess the environmental consequences of the Subsurface Disposal Area at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex, small mammals and soil samples were collected near the Subsurface Disposal Area in 1972 to 1973 and analyzed for activation and fission nuclides. Levels of radioactivity in the deer mice (Peromyscus maniculates) were for the most part below detectable limits except in samples collected on the perimeter of the Subsurface Disposal Area. Detectable fission and activation nuclides in the soil were primarily Cs-137, Co-60, Ce-144, Sb-125, Ru-106, and Sr-90. However, soil concentrations of these nuclides at the perimeter of the Subsurface Disposal Area were relatively low. For example, the maximum Cs-137 concentration was only 12 times average concentrations found in soils from background locations and average Cs-137 concentrations were only about three times average background concentrations at 350 m from the Subsurface Disposal Area. It is concluded that the storage of radioactive waste at the INEL Radioactive Waste Management Complex has had little effect on the concentrations of activation and fission products in the environment near the Subsurface Disposal Area