This running period was followed by a brief three-week shutdown. One of the major jobs during this shutdown was the cement capping of several beam dump locations. These included the Brookhaven Linac Isotope Production (BLIP) facility, the g-2 beam dump, and the location of the still unfinished J-10 beam scraper in the main AGS ring. Gunnite, a cement mixture, was used in these locations. The desired effect is to prevent rain water from penetrating the ground near major beam loss points, and thus, to prevent the production of tritium in groundwater. Recent groundwater samples taken near the BLIP facility have shown elevated levels of tritium which are believed to have resulted from past operating practices. Because of the recent public outrage over the small amounts of tritium which have leaked out of the High Flux Beam Reactor's (HFBR) spent fuel pool, BNL management decided to adopt this conservative approach towards potential groundwater contamination from on-site operations. Each gunnite capping costs about $50,000. Additional groundwater samples will be taken adjacent to the booster beam dump, and at various other points around the AGS facility.
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