Effect of soil freezing on particulate resuspension

This report presents the results of small scale laboratory tests that were conducted to determine the effect of soil freezing on soil resuspension. Nontransuranic contaminated soil form the Radioactive Waste Management Complex was subjected to a series of test conditions to determine respirable and nonrespirable fractions of airborne dust. A separate fraction of the same soil was spiked with Pu-239 and subjected to the same test conditions. Concentrations of resuspended soil and Pu in air were determined. Test results show that: (a) the largest fraction of soil resuspended is in the nonrespirable size fraction, (b) the concentration of resuspended soil in air is highly dependent on surface air velocity, and (c) freezing is not as effective at reducing resuspension of fine dry soil as it is with coarse soil, and (d) artificially prepared Pu contaminated soil has a high proportion of the total activity distributed on ultrafine material, reacts inversely to the mass movement of soil, and does not adequately imitate Pu movement in an actual contaminated soil. 26 figs., 3 tabs.