The Remediation of Radioactive Contamination at the London 2012 Olympic Park
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Abstract
The London 2012 Olympic, now Queen Elizabeth, Park is in an area of the Lower Lea Valley in Stratford, East London. It was once home to a diverse range of industries, such as chemical and fertilizer manufacturing, engineering works, metals processing, etc. Parts of the site were also formerly
used as domestic and industrial waste landfills. Several of these industrial activities both on- and off-
site used raw materials, which contained naturally occurring radionuclides. As a consequence the site
had areas with extensive contamination, including from radioactive materials. This paper describes the remediation of the site from that contamination. It describes the identification, removal, assaying, management and disposal of the resulting radioactive wastes. A major issue was the extremely short timescale available to undertake all of these activities, given the need to construct and test the new facilities before commencement of the Olympics. This necessitated the development of approaches and equipment to identify and particularly to assay and sentence such material quickly with the minimum of double handling, etc.
The contamination was in discrete areas and in parts several metres deep. Some included full natural uranium (U238) and thorium (Th232) chains, others truncated radium (Ra226) and truncated Pa231 chains. The gamma signatures of the naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), supported with sampling and analysis, were used with areal surveying to identify areas with elevated levels of radioactivity. The contaminated spoil was removed and transported to central bunded, storage locations. There the spoil was assayed and segregated by category by gamma spectrometry. Combinations of bag, truck and calibrated bucket monitoring systems were used.
Approximately 7600 tonnes of radioactively contaminated spoil were identified. The bulk was very low level waste (VLLW). It was disposed of in a dedicated disposal cell, which was constructed on site in the southern abutment to a road and pedestrian bridge. A small proportion, comprising primarily of individual artefacts, was low-level waste (LLW). This was disposed off-site to the UK national LLWR.
used as domestic and industrial waste landfills. Several of these industrial activities both on- and off-
site used raw materials, which contained naturally occurring radionuclides. As a consequence the site
had areas with extensive contamination, including from radioactive materials. This paper describes the remediation of the site from that contamination. It describes the identification, removal, assaying, management and disposal of the resulting radioactive wastes. A major issue was the extremely short timescale available to undertake all of these activities, given the need to construct and test the new facilities before commencement of the Olympics. This necessitated the development of approaches and equipment to identify and particularly to assay and sentence such material quickly with the minimum of double handling, etc.
The contamination was in discrete areas and in parts several metres deep. Some included full natural uranium (U238) and thorium (Th232) chains, others truncated radium (Ra226) and truncated Pa231 chains. The gamma signatures of the naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), supported with sampling and analysis, were used with areal surveying to identify areas with elevated levels of radioactivity. The contaminated spoil was removed and transported to central bunded, storage locations. There the spoil was assayed and segregated by category by gamma spectrometry. Combinations of bag, truck and calibrated bucket monitoring systems were used.
Approximately 7600 tonnes of radioactively contaminated spoil were identified. The bulk was very low level waste (VLLW). It was disposed of in a dedicated disposal cell, which was constructed on site in the southern abutment to a road and pedestrian bridge. A small proportion, comprising primarily of individual artefacts, was low-level waste (LLW). This was disposed off-site to the UK national LLWR.
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