Environmental Dose Reconstruction - Oak Ridge Site, TN
More Info | Online Map Application

Overview*

The Oak Ridge Health Agreement Studies were a nine-year, $14 million effort to evaluate historical contaminant releases from the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation and the health problems these releases may have created among nearby residents. The studies, directed by the Tennessee Department of Health and funded by DOE, provided independent assessments of contaminant releases from the three Oak Ridge facilities (X-10, Y-12 and K-25). In some cases, Health Studies scientists showed that releases from Oak Ridge operations were substantially higher than had been previously acknowledged by the federal government.

The studies also included an independent assessment of health risks faced by communities in the area. In particular, the project included "dose reconstruction" studies focusing on four areas:

  • Releases of radioactive iodine-131 from Oak Ridge National Laboratory between 1944 and 1956 (then known as X-10);
  • Releases of mercury from the Y-12 Plant, particularly in the 1950s;
  • Releases of PCBs from facilities throughout the Oak Ridge Reservation;
  • Releases of radioactive substances from waste disposal areas at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10) via White Oak Creek to the Clinch River.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Dose Reconstruction mapping application, constructed by the GISC, allows audiences that are interested in the environmental impacts of lab operations at Oak Ridge to explore the detailed analyses of environmental studies sanctioned by DoE and Tennessee Dept. of Health.

Features of Oak Ridge EDR Map Application

  • Customizable base map with layer visiblity options.
  • Detailed access to analytical findings on study area.
  • Data available also includes detailed temporal data in table form.
  • Findings available in charts and tables for:
    • Iodine dose, risk, and substance concentrations
    • Mercury dose and air/water concentrations
    • Uramium air/water concentrations and ingestion, hazard, and inhalation figures.

Contacts

Geographic Information Science Center, UCB (GISC)
George Marinos (gmarinos@gisc.berkeley.edu)
Alex Ngo (alex@gisc.berkeley.edu)

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Allan Konrad (AMKonrad@lbl.gov)
Jeff Buchanan (Jeff.Buchanan@pnl.gov)

Screenshots

The main user interface allows easy browsing to observation sites surrounding the Oak Ridge area.
 
Extensive data on dose and risk levels is available for each observation site.
 
The visualization also provides graph data for dose and risk.

*Overview from http://www2.state.tn.us/health/CEDS/OakRidge/ORidge.html.