Applications of dendrochronology and sediment geochronology to establish reference episodes for evaluations of environmental radioactivity

Dendrochronology and sediment geochronology have been used to demonstrate retrospective monitoring of environmental radioactivity at United States Department of Energy (DOE) sites. 14C in annual growth rings of sagebrush preserved the temporal and spatial patterns of 14C resulting from dispersion downwind of a nuclear fuel processing facility at the Hanford Site in Washington State. As far as 10 km downwind of the facility, 14C concentrations were significantly higher in growth rings formed during a fuel processing episode than in rings produced during preoperational or postoperational episodes. An episode of uranium mill tailings deposition in pond sediments at the Grand Junction Office in Colorado was reconstructed using 210Pb geochronology constrained by a marker of peak 137Cs fallout. Uranium concentrations in ponds sediments deposited after the processing episode provide a reasonable cleanup standard. These reference episodes of environmental radioactivity reconstructed from measurements taken within contaminated environments can improve or replace reference area data as baseline information for dose reconstructions, risk assessments, and the establishment of cleanup standards.