Los Alamos low-level waste performance assessment status

This report reviews the documented Los Alamos studies done to assess the containment of buried hazardous wastes. Five sections logically present the environmental studies, operational source terms, transport pathways, environmental dosimetry, and computer model development and use. This review gives a general picture of the Los Alamos solid waste disposal and liquid effluent sites and is intended for technical readers with waste management and environmental science backgrounds but without a detailed familiarization with Los Alamos. The review begins with a wide perspective on environmental studies at Los Alamos. Hydrology, geology, and meteorology are described for the site and region. The ongoing Laboratory-wide environmental surveillance and waste management environmental studies are presented. The next section describes the waste disposal sites and summarizes the current source terms for these sites. Hazardous chemical wastes and liquid effluents are also addressed by describing the sites and canyons that are impacted. The review then focuses on the transport pathways addressed mainly in reports by Healy and Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. Once the source terms and potential transport pathways are described, the dose assessment methods are addressed. Three major studies, the waste alternatives, Hansen and Rogers, and the Pantex Environmental Impact Statement, contributed to the current Los Alamos dose assessment methodology. Finally, the current Los Alamos groundwater, surface water, and environmental assessment models for these mesa top and canyon sites are described