RADIOCESIUM IN THE SAVANNA RIVER SITE ENVIRONMENT

The Savannah River Site has produced plutonium, tritium, and other spe cial nuclear materials for national defense, other government programs , and some civilian purposes. Radiocesium, a waste product, has been r eleased to the environment during the operation of five reactors, two radiochemical processing facilities, and a high-level waste storage sy stem. During the period 1955-1989, 130 GBq of Cs-137 was released to t he atmosphere and 2.2 x 10(4) GBq was released to site streams and pon ds. Approximately 65% of the latter remained on the site. The maximum individual effective dose equivalent at the site boundary was estimate d to be 3.3 mu SY from atmospheric releases and 600 mu Sv from liquid releases. The 80-km population dose was 1.6 person-Sv.