Title: Site surveillance and maintenance program for Palos Park: Report for 1988
Abstract: The results of the environmental monitoring program conducted at Site A/Plot M in the Palos Park Forest Preserve area for CY 1988 are presented. The monitoring program is the ongoing remedial action that resulted from the original radiological characterization of the site. That study had determined that hydrogen-3 (as tritiated water) migrated from the burial ground and was present in two nearby hand-pumped picnic wells. The current program consists of sample collection and analysis of air, surface and subsurface water, and bottom sediment. The results of the analyses are used to (1) determine the migration pathway of water from the burial ground (Plot M) to hand-pumped picnic wells, (2) establish if buried radionuclides other than hydrogen-3 have migrated, and (3) generally characterize the radiological environment of the area. Hydrogen-3 in the Red Gate Woods picnic well continued to show the same pattern of elevated levels in the winter and low concentrations in the summer, but the magnitude of the current winter peak was significantly less than in earlier years. A replacement well was installed in July 1988 in the Red Gate Woods area to provide a source of water for public use that is free of tritium. Tritiated water continues to be detected in a number of wells, boreholes, dolomite holes, and a surface stream. For many years it was the only radionuclide found to have migrated in measurable quantities. Recent measurements indicate the presence of strontium-90 and technetium-99 in borehole water next to Plot M. 15 refs., 6 figs., 16 tabs.