Abstract
Major environmental concerns of the low‐level radioactive waste management operations at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are that the groundwater in this location is near the soil surface and that there is a possibility of water infiltrating the disposal trenches at old solid waste storage areas (SWSA's). In the current SWSA (SWSA 6), a group of trenches (49‐Trench area) collect and hold water with seasonal fluctuations ranging from 1 to 2 m. This seasonal wetting of the buried waste has resulted in the movement of 9OSr to a surface stream within the disposal area. To reduce infiltration and prevent waste leaching, the entire 0.44‐ha 49‐Trench area was sealed with a bentonite clay cover in October 1976. Subsequent monitoring indicated that the cover had not corrected the trench water problem, which suggested a faulty seal, an alternate recharge source, or both.
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