Research Program at Maxey Flats and Consideration of Other Shallow Land Burial Sites

Abstract

The Maxey Flats research program is a multidisciplinary, multilaboratory program with the objectives to define the radiochemical and chemical composition of leachates in the burial trenches, define the areal distribution of radionuclides on the site and the factors responsible for this distribution, define the concentrations of radionuclides in vegetation both on and offsite and the uptake of radionuclides by representative agricultural crops, define the atmospheric pathways for radionuclide transport and the mechanisms involved, determine the subsurface migration rates of radionuclides and the chemical, physical, biological, and hydrogeological factors which affect this migration. and evaluate the engineering practices which influence the seepage of surface waters into the burial trenches. The program was initiated in 1979 and a research meeting was held at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Headquarters on July 16, 1980, to report the research findings of each of the participating laboratories and universities. Important observations from the research are included in the Summary and the results reported for each of the research efforts are summarized in the individual reports that are combined to form this document.