A practical guide to borehole geophysics in environmental investigations / Практическое руководство по скважинной геофизике в экологических исследованиях

My first experience in applying borehole geophysics to the environmental field was in 1960 at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL); however, I started working with geophysical logs in 1953. In Idaho we were able to map a complex aquifer system and the distribution of plumes of waste from injection wells and ponds. One of the earliest applications of neutron moisture logs to locate waste migrating above the water table and of gamma-spectral logs to identify migrating radioisotopes was at the INEL. While at the INEL I was involved in the recovery operations and investigations at the SL-1 reactor. That reactor had a criticality incident and steam explosion that killed the night crew of three and contaminated an area around the reactor with radioactive materials. I was a volunteer worker in the reactor building and received a 1-year allowable exposure in less than an hour. I carried out a study of the contaminated soil around the site and helped remove radioactive particles from the U.S. Highway through INEL. Eugene Shuter of the U.S.G.S. and I were asked to locate a burial-ground site for the contaminated reactor building and its contents, except for the reactor core. We were given 24 hours to locate a new burial site with the only specifications being approximate distance from the reactor and minimum thickness of alluvium above basalt. We drilled auger holes most of the night and had a map of the location and alluvium depths ready the next afternoon, the shortest presite investigation I know of. Excavation started at the SL-I burial ground shortly thereafter, and all of that radioactive material is still buried there.
In 1963 I started a research project in the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey on the application of borehole geophysics to groundwater hydrology. I continued my interest and investigations in the environmental field and utilized borehole geophysics to describe the occurrence and movement of contamination at a number of sites in the United States and Canada. Since 1983 I have been a private consultant on borehole geophysics, and most of my work has been in the environmental field. At municipal landfills, industrial-waste disposal sites, and mine-contamination sites borehole geophysics has proven to be an economically viable method for obtaining more information from drill holes. An example is cited in which borehole geophysics played a significant role in a landmark lawsuit on a Superfund site. <...>