Actinide Migration Evaluation Projects

The Actinide Migration Evaluation (AME) projects were commissioned at Rocky Flats in 1995 to address how actinide elements move in the environment. Initially, AME advisors were recruited to evaluate and provide guidance on environmental conditions (including actinide chemistry, geochemistry, migration, and erosion) at RFETS. The charter was rapidly expanded to include recommendations of paths forward for long-term protection of surface-water quality as the primary technical and regulatory measure of remedial action quality.

Over the 10-year history, the group was led by Christine S. Dayton (formerly with Kaiser-Hill), and the following served as advisors: Sumner J. Barr (Los Alamos, retired), Gregory R. Choppin (Florida State University), David L. Clark (Los Alamos), Arokiasamy J. Francis (Brookhaven National Laboratory), Bruce D. Honeyman (Colorado School of Mines), David R. Janecky (Los Alamos), Annie B. Kersting (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Leonard J. Lane (USDA Agricultural Research Service, retired), D. Kirk Nordstrom (U.S. Geological Survey), and Peter H. Santschi (Texas A&M University, Galveston).

The following overriding technical questions and priorities were identified:

• Urgent: What are the important actinide migration sources and migration processes that account for surface-water
quality standard exceedances?

• Near-term: What will be the impacts of actinide migration on planned remedial actions? To what level do sources
need to be cleaned up to protect surface water from exceeding action levels for actinides?

• Long-term: How will actinide migration affect surface-water quality, airsheds, and impact on downstream areas
(e.g., what soil-action levels will be sufficiently protective of surface water)?

A central principle of AME, from its inception, was to have ongoing interaction with the public. As actinide migrationrelated studies were performed and completed, meetings were held with representatives from the regulatory agencies, neighboring communities, and citizens’ groups to discuss study results and the implications for remedial actions at the Site. When warranted, additional personnel were brought in to provide technical expertise as necessary (for example, chemists experienced with specialized analytical techniques). Discussion of issues occurred in the public forums and prompted additional research to be conducted to address unanswered questions.

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