of the sites. During our visit, the sites were clean and no debris or large pieces of
metals were observed. Debris is controlled by the excellent practice of removing the
pieces of metals on a regular basis and tilling often. Results from Phase I and Phase II
are comparable in two consecutive years.
When the ranges are compared, the conclusions drawn from Phase I results still apply;
the Jimmy Lake Range is the most contaminated site by metals; Bravo Range is less
contaminated than Alpha Range; and Shaver River Range is also less contaminated
than Alpha Range. In Shaver River Range, fewer metals were detected compared to
Alpha Range but the concentrations were of the same order of magnitude. The metals
in Shaver River Range that had high concentrations and were of concern, such as
cadmium, are similar to the metals of concern encountered in Jimmy Lake but at
lower concentrations. Problematic metals seem to be found in different types of
weapons such as bomb and rocket and should be probably part of their painting.
The vegetation analyses revealed that some metals are phytoaccumulated from the
soils, since a direct relation between soil and vegetation concentrations were
identified. On some occasions, metals phytoaccumulation did not correspond to the
metals concentrations in soils. Not all of the metals were phytoaccumulated possibly
due to selective adsorption. Nevertheless, considering the results obtained during
Phase II, the quality of the vegetation is excellent and compares well with the
concentrations in background samples. Therefore, vegetation does not represent a risk
to wildlife.
Surface water and sediment were sampled during Phase II to assess the quality of
Primerose Lake and Jimmy Lake. Many sediment samples were collected in both
lakes using a manual grabber. Results indicated that these sediment samples are not
contaminated with only a few exceptions. Surface water samples also revealed that
the concentrations of metals were quite low and no explosives were found. In general,
neither the sediment nor the surface water is contaminated in Primerose Lake and in
Jimmy Lake.
For the energetic materials analyses, our efforts were concentrated mainly on Jimmy
Lake and Shaver River ranges during Phase II, since explosive concentrations
determined in Alpha and in Bravo during Phase I revealed low ppm levels. In Jimmy
Lake, in the circular samples, mainly propellant residues were found, such as
nitroglycerine which was found in all samples. This indicates that rockets are often
used at this site. The concentrations of explosives were also low and do not represent
a major problem. In Shaver River Range, the situation was the opposite; very little
propellant residues were found, but explosives such as TNT were found in almost all
samples. This indicates that bombs are mainly used at this site. The metals that
showed problems in Shave River Range are the same than in Jimmy Lake Range, but
at lower concentrations. Little information about weapon compositions is available
that can explain all of these results. The most probable explanation is that the problem
metals are found in both rocket and bomb paintings. The maximum TNT
concentration obtained during Phase II was lower than the concentration obtained
during Phase I. This can be the result of site tilling.
In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the ranges have some accumulation of
metals due to firing activities, but the extent of contamination is very low.
25
DRDC Valcartier TR 2004-204
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