CLEANUP PROTOCOL FOR RA-226-CONTAMINATED COBBLY SOIL AT UMTRA PROJECTSITES

The nonuniform distribution of Ra-226 and other radiological contamina tion of cobbly soil encountered on several Uranium Mill Tailings Remed ial Action Project sites is presented and discussed, and the concomita nt challenges to the intent and implementation of the U.S. Environment al Protection Agency's soil cleanup standards are noted. In response t o technical assessments and information presented to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Nuclear Re gulatory Commission has recently resolved the dilemma by concluding th at compliance with Environmental Protection Agency soil cleanup standa rds for cobbly soil at Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project s ites would be adequately attained using bulk radionuclide concentratio ns, instead of requiring that the radionuclide concentration of the fi ner soil fraction passing a #4 mesh sieve met the standards. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved procedure developed for cobbly soil re mediation is outlined and discussed. The site-specific implementation of this procedure at Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project sit es containing cobbly soil is estimated to save millions of dollars.