Uranium Contamination in the Great Miami Aquifer at the Fernald Environmental Management Project, Fernald, Ohio

Abstract

AbstractGround‐water investigations at a former U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex near Fernald, in southwestern Ohio, included the delineation of uranium contamination above the USEPA proposed drinking water standard of 20 μg/l. Contamination occurs in a buried valley and has migrated > 1.5 km south‐southeast of the facility boundary. Flooring of the plume(s) appears to be > 32 m below the water table of the Great Miami Aquifer. U6+ predominates in the modeled U‐O2‐CO2‐H2O system and U retardation decreases at depth. U234/U238 disequilibria analyses complement hydrogeologic studies which suggest that U leakage through the clayey till cap is less significant than the predominant transport pathway of infiltration via drainage channels incised into the aquifer.