Technetium-99, iodine-129 and tritium in the waters of the Savannah River Site

Surface water samples were collected from streams on and around the Savannah River Site (SRS) to assess current 3H, 99Tc, and 129I concentrations in the water. The SRS is a nuclear facility operated by Westinghouse Savannah River Company for the US Department of Energy. Water quality parameters were measured at the time of collection using field portable instrumentation. The tritium activity was determined by liquid scintillation spectrometry. The isotopes, 99Tc and 129I, were determined by isotope dilution/inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (D.M. Beals, Determination of technetium-99 in aqueous samples by isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Presented at the 3rd International Conference on Nuclear and Radiochemistry, Vienna, September 1992, unpublished data; D.M. Beals, P. Chastagner and P.K. Turner, Analysis of iodine-129 in aqueous samples by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Presented at the 38th Annual Conference on Bioassay, Analytical and Environmental Radiochemistry, Santa Fe, NM, November 1992). Elevated activities of 3H, 99Tc, and 129I were found in some surface streams of the SRS, principally due to migration of ground water from beneath old seepage basins, however the levels in the waters leaving the SRS are well below any regulatory guidelines.