Surface and subsurface soils at the Pond B dam: July 1998

Pond B, 685-13G, is an inactive reactor cooling impoundment built in 1961 on the Savannah River Site (SRS). Between 1961 and 1964, Pond B received R-Reactor cooling water discharges that were contaminated with 137Cs, 90Sr and plutonium. Though the pond has not been used since 1964, radionuclides from the contaminated cooling water remain in the water and in the surface sediments of the pond. The current proposal to fix and repair the Pond B dam structure includes installing a new drain system and monitoring equipment. The dam will be reinforced with additional previous material on the downstream face of the dam. The objectives of this report are to describe the sampling methodology used during the July 1998 sampling event at the downstream face of the Pond B dam and in Pond B, present the results of the sampling event, and compare, where possible, these results to related risk-based standards