미국 지질조사(USGS) 과학자들이 에너지부의 아이다호 국립연구소(INL)에서 수집한 30년 이상의 수질 데이터 분석을 발표했다. 이 데이터는 동부 스네이크 강 평원 대수층에서의 향상된 지하수 수질을 위한 장기 트렌드를 밝혀낸다. 이러한 결과는 INL 지점에서 대수층 모니터링 네트워크를 최적화하는 데에 사용될 예정이다.

USGS의 INL 프로젝트 부서 관리자인 Roy Bartholomay는 “INL에서의 아이다호 정화 프로젝트는 동부 스네이크 강 평원 대수층의 수질에 긍정적인 효과를 갖고 있다”며 “이번 연구로 얻은 트렌드 데이터는 그 점을 확인했고, 나아가 우리가 미래를 위한 모니터링 노력을 개선하는 데에 도움을 줄 것이다”라고 말했다.

 

 

 

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists have released analyses of more than 30 years of water-quality data collected at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site. The data reveals long-term trends toward improved groundwater quality in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer. Those results will be used to optimize the aquifer monitoring network at the INL Site.

 

"The Idaho Cleanup Project at the INL Site is having a positive effect on the water quality of the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer," said Roy Bartholomay, manager of the USGS INL Project Office. "The trend data from this study confirm that and will help us to refine our monitoring efforts going forward."

 

USGS scientists analyzed data collected from 99 wells at the INL Site between 1981 and 2012. The study focused on wells possibly affected by wastewater disposal that occurred from the early 1950s until the late 1980s on the premises. The data analyzed included concentrations of tritium, strontium-90, major cations, anions, nutrients, trace elements, total organic carbon, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
 
Key findings include:

·Long-term trends in the concentrations of radionuclides such as tritium and strontium-90 show that improved wastewater disposal practices are helping to reduce concentrations of those constituents in groundwater.

·Concentrations of the inorganic compounds sodium and chloride are decreasing at wastewater disposal sites but increasing farther downgradient in the aquifer. For example, chloride disposed of at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center in the mid-1990s has moved about 3 miles south, where it was found at the highest concentrations in wells near the Central Facilities Area.

·Trend test results indicated an increasing trend for carbon tetrachloride, a VOC, at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex Production Well for the period 1987-2012. However, trend analyses of data collected since 2005 show no statistically significant trend, indicating that engineering practices designed to reduce movement of VOCs to the aquifer may be working.

 

An upcoming USGS study will apply these water-quality trend data to statistically optimize the monitoring well network at the INL Site. That process could identify wells that could be eliminated from the network, thereby reducing overall network costs.

 

[출처 = Water World / 2015년 2월 20일]