31
5.8 Hazards Associated with Breaching of the Containment Strucfure
would be swept into the lagoon. The whole area would be drenched
hence, any material that had become airborne would be washed o
rapidly.
It is noteworthy that throughout the cleanup effort
and,
field
Radioactivity on all but a handful of filters was too low to b
detected in totally dry conditions.
possible conditions
Thus, even during the most
(i.e., during the scraping, transportine,
a
dumping of the contaminated soil), the amount of airborne p’.uto
negligible.
to atmospheric resuspension of transuranics have been made by &
and co-workers (1980) based on resuspension experiments conduc
These measurements included both the cont¥yibuEnewetak and Bikini.
included high activity situations such as the cultivation of op
fields.”
Dose rates were calculated assuming 8 hours per day o
high activity work.
For surface soil transuranic concentrationg
equai
ban on the island were violated, potential health effects from s
resuspension appear unimportant.
With respect to the future of the containment structure, the
committee believes that the structure will maintain its physica
integrity for a long period of time (probably in the range of 10
to
to those at Enjebi (which averages approximately 20 pCi/g), the
potential dose rate due to the inhalation pathway is estimated das
mrem/yr (Robison et al. 1980). This would certainly overestimat
dose rate to a visitor to Runit even if large quantities of uncc
dated material were to erode from the dome. Thus, if the “off Iimits*
10° years).
However, it is impossible to estimate this with an
degree of certainty because the principal threat comes from the fiongterm cumulative effects of large storms.
If the key-wall even
were to be breached, the most likely outcome would be an erosio
unconsolidated material out cf the dome to the lagoon and reef,
the dome subsiding upon the consolidated material.
This would nb
that plutonium may be concentrated in the sea surface and subsec
injected into the atmosphere by sea spray and transported by the
(Cambray and Eakins 1980).
Any such concentration effect, if it]does
exist, would be included in the measurements reported by Robisonjand
co-workers.