Radiation exposure levels at Savannah River Site increased about 20 percent during 2008, in part because of low flows in the Savannah River, according to the site's annual environmental report.
The 310-square-mile site was still characterized as "exemplary" on environmental compliance, with average exposure levels remaining at a small fraction of the allowable standard.
The report, using calculations prepared by Savannah River National Laboratory, notes that the largest radiation dose a "maximally exposed individual" could have received from SRS operations in 2008 was estimated to be 0.12 millirem -- a 20 percent increase over the 0.1 millirem calculation for 2007.
In 2006, the figure was 0.2 millirem, and in 2005 it was 0.13 millrem.
A millirem is a standard unit of measure for radiation exposure.
The levels recorded in all four years remain less than 1 percent of the Department of Energy's standard of 100 millirem per year, the report said. Levels have generally declined in recent decades as many of the processes that created radiation have ceased or been reduced.
"The 2008 all-pathway dose was more than the 2007 dose primarily because of the drought-induced record low Savannah River flow rate in 2008, which resulted in less dilution," the report said.
When calculating exposures, scientists use a "maximally exposed individual," a person who spends 24 hours a day wherever the air is worst at the site's boundary, drinks 2 liters of water daily and eats food grown with water from the site.
Also during 2008, the site received three notices of violation from its primary regulator -- the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control -- after none in 2007, the report said. Two violations involved sanitary wastewater discharges, and the other involved air emissions. In 2006, the site received two such notices.
Environmental monitoring is conducted extensively within a 2,000-square-mile network extending 25 miles from SRS, with some monitoring performed as far as 100 miles from the site.
Thousands of samples of air, water, food products, wildlife, soil, sediment and vegetation are collected by SRS and state authorities and analyzed for the presence of radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants.
To see the full report, go to: www.srs.gov/general/pubs/ERsum.
Reach Rob Pavey at (706) 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
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Very well done, folks. Keep up the outstanding work. Our community appreciates it.
Good that SRS is being cleaned up. South Carolina has been looking forward to that day when no more nuclear waste is dumped or created at the site.
We also have an exemplary record here at Hanford, but you'd never know it with all the Seattle idiots over here whining all the time and ignoring the reality. But the government gives us $2B/year for mostly unnecessary cleanup, so we're supposed to be quiet and enjoy our immunity from the national economic crisis. I wonder if SCEagleEye understands the difference between real and perceived risk. I get the feeling you have some irrational hysteria in your neighborhood, too.
Yes, I do my job even though SRS has been reducing my pay and benefits for many years.