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ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS, USE OF SCIENTIFIC NOTATION, AND EXPLANATION OF NUMBER CONVERSIONS

Acronyms

Aea - Atomic Energy Act

CAA - Clean Air Act

CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act

CFR - Code of Federal Regulations

CWA - Clean Water Act

DOE - Department of Energy

ea - Environmental Assessment

eis - Environmental Impact Statement

EPA - Environmental Protection Agency

EPCRA - Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act

ERPG - Emergency Response Planning Guidelines

FONSI - Finding of No Significant Impact

FR - Federal Register

FY - Fiscal Year

HWMF - Hazardous Waste Management Facility

NEPA - National Environmental Policy Act

PCB - Polychlorinated biphenyl

RCRA - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

SCDHEC - South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control

SDWA - Safe Drinking Water Act

SREL - Savannah River Ecology Laboratory

SRL - Savannah River Laboratory (renamed SRTC)

SRS - Savannah River Site

SRTC - Savannah River Technology Center

Abbreviations for measurements

cfm - cubic feet per minute

cfs - cubic feet per second

g - percentage of gravity (seismology)

g/L - grams per liter

gpm - gallons per minute

L - liter

lb - pound

mg - milligram

µ - micron

µCi - microcurie

µg - microgram

°C - degrees Celsius

°F - degrees Fahrenheit

Visualizing units of measure

1 mg/L - 1 part per million; an example of a unit of one millionth is 1 second in 11.6 days

1 µg/L - 1 part per billion; an example of a unit of one billionth is 1 second in 31.7 years

Use of scientific notation

Very small and very large numbers are sometimes written using "scientific notation" or "E-notation" rather than as decimals or fractions. Both types of notation use exponents to indicate the power of ten as a multiplier (i.e., 10ⁿ, or the number 10 multiplied by itself "n" times; 10^-n, or the reciprocal of the number 10 multiplied by itself "n" times).

For example: 10³ = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000

10^-2 = 1/(10 x 10) = 0.01

In scientific notation, large numbers are written as a decimal between 1 and 10 multiplied by the appropriate power of 10:

4,900 is written 4.9x10³ = 4.9 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 4.9 x 1,000 = 4,900

0.049 is written 4.9x10^-2

1,490,000 or 1.49 million is written 1.49x10⁶

A positive exponent indicates a number larger than or equal to one, a negative exponent indicates number less than one.

In some cases, a slightly different notation ("E-notation") is used, where "x10" is replaced by "E" and the exponent is not superscripted. Using the above examples

4,900 = 4.9x10³ = 4.9E+03

0.049 = 4.9x10^-2 = 4.9E-02

1,490,000 = 1.49x10⁶ = 1.49E+06

The following rules were used in the conversion and rounding of numbers for this eis:

1. Original numbers were converted from metric to English equivalents (or vice versa) according to standard conversion factors.

2. Original numbers were not rounded before they were converted.

3. Converted numbers were rounded to their appropriate level of precision; normally they were rounded to two significant figures including decimals, for numbers below 10,000. Numbers greater than 10,000 were normally rounded to three significant figures.

4. Figures greater than 100,000 were expressed in scientific notation to three significant figures (e.g., 1,450,000 would be expressed as 1.45x10⁶).

5. Metric units are referred to first, with English units in parentheses, regardless of which was the original number.

6. No conversions from English acres were computed for the Ecological Impacts sections in the Summary, Section 2.7, or Chapter 4.

Note: Slight variations in the same number used in different sections may occur because different computer spreadsheet software rounds or truncates numbers differently, or because the analysts rounded the numbers before or after calculations.