A comprehensive appraisal of 241Am in soils around Rocky Flats, Colorado

Soils east of Rocky Flats Plant (RFETS) near Golden, Colorado, were contaminated with actinides because of accidental release of oils laden with plutonium isotopes. Consequently, these soils were contaminated by 241Am due to radioactive decay of 241Pu (t1/2 = 14.4 y). A spatial analysis of 241Am activity in soils east of RFETS was conducted to elucidate the magnitude and the mode of 241Am dispersion in the soil environment. 241Am activity of 178 soil samples ranged from 0.037 Bq kg-1 to 10,004 Bq kg-1 with a mean of 214 Bq kg-1, median of 7.28 Bq kg-1, standard deviation of 942 Bq kg-1, and a coefficient of variation of 4.3. Spatial analysis of 241Am in soils around RFETS was conducted using indicator kriging, which is a nonparametric technique especially suitable to model a conditional cumulative distribution function (ccdf) of highly skewed environmental data such as 241Am. The ccdf was used to generate an E-type (mean of the conditional cdf) surface. The resulted surfaces were consistent with the hypothesis that the westerly winds were the dominant mechanism of americium dispersal. The spatial distribution and dispersal mechanisms of 241Am were similar to those of 239+240Pu. The ccdf was also used to construct probability of exceedence maps of 241Am in soils. For the purpose of this report two threshold values for the probability maps were selected: (1) the mean measured background activity of 241Am (0.4 Bq kg-1), and (2) the programmatic preliminary remediation goal for residential occupancy scenario (87.7 Bq kg-1). The probability-of-exceedance maps provide estimates of spatial uncertainty associated with each threshold. The E-type maps in conjunction with the probability-of-exceedance maps provide a robust framework for future cleanup options and land use decisions.