Oak Ridge Operations Office

Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant

Portsmouth Remedial Action

Project Code:OR-46301
Problem Areas:Remedial Action (Primary)
Health / Ecology / Risk
Life-Cycle Cost in 2007+: $403,000,000
DOE Project Manager: Robert C. Sleeman, 423-576-0715
Contractor Manager: T. W. Morris, 423-241-4921, morristw@ornl.gov
For More Information: http://www.em.doe.gov/closure/pbs/orp75.html

Maximum Public, Worker, and Environmental Risks in the year 2007 and beyond:

Public: Medium Worker: High Environment: High

Technical Approach Provided by Project Manager:

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant is divided into four cleanup areas called quadrants based on groundwater flow direction. The tactics for completing remediation fro each quadrant will be as follows: -removed well-defined sources of contamination; -consolidate and integrate remedial actions, corrective measures, and RCRA closures for solid waste management units and solid waste management unit groups that have common contaminant sources or interrelated groundwater contaminant plumes; -use risk-based closure criteria rather than "clean" closure criteria (where practical); and -use the results of risk analyses to establish cleanup levels and the sequence of cleanup efforts. In general, cleanup will be in accordance with decisions reached under the RCRA Corrective Action process for the site, in compliance with both RCRA and CERCLA regulations. Under that process, a Corrective Measures Study will develop cleanup alternatives for each site which requires action. The preferred alternative will then be selected by the regulators for Corrective Measures Implementation. Remediation technologies will be selected that satisfy remediation goals, are technically feasible, and minimize the life cycle cost for the project. Remediation technologies are listed below in decreasing order or preference: In-situ treatment with the emphasis on waste minimization Waste isolation via multilayer cap, subsurface barriers, etc. Removal action with treatment/disposal of the waste. In addition, other technologies will be considered, pending funding and future technological considerations, such as: - In-situ vitrification of buried waste - Homogeneous advanced oxidation systems - Reactive barriers - Fluidless directional drilling

Post 2006 Project Scope Provided by Project Manager:

Operation of active and passive groundwater treatment systems with deed restrictions on some sites will be ongoing through FY 2052. The Sitewide groundwater monitoring program will be ongoing through FY 2056. Long Term Surveillance and Maintenance of Remedial Action units and D&D Facilities will be ongoing until cessation of plant operations, and decontamination and decommissioning of the plantsite.

Project End State Provided by Project Manager:

The plant remains operational and gaseous diffusion operations will remain at selected facilities. All Corrective Actions will have been implemented: groundwater treatment systems will be in place and operational; a waste storage facility will be established on-site to manage wastes generated by continuing operations; landfills and burial grounds will be hydrologically isolated and left in place. The following activities will be ongoing when the Project End State (steady state) is reached. Operation of active and passive groundwater treatment systems Sitewide Groundwater Monitoring Program Long Term Surveillance and Maintenance of Remedial Action units and D&D facilities.

The full list of science research awards that have the potential to address projects such as this one, which deals with Remedial Action and Health / Ecology / Risk problems, are listed in the Index of Research Awards by Environmental Management Problem Area, in the back of this appendix, under the headings "Remedial Action and Health / Ecology / Risk".

The following awards were identified through systems engineering to have the potential to address the specific needs of this Project. Those research awards that may have the strongest link to this project are designated by the symbol "§".


Award ID
Award Title
§ 54898-AZ Molecular Dissection of the Cellular Mechanisms Involved in Nickel Hyperaccumulation in Plants
§ 55061-CA Fundamental Studies of the Removal of Contaminants from Ground and Waste Waters via Reduction by Zero-Valent Metals
§ 55374-IL Use of Sonication for In-Well Softening of Semivolatile Organic Compounds
§ 54680-MI The Migration and Entrapment of DNAPLs in Physically and Chemically Heterogeneous Porous Media
§ 55395-NM Physics of DNAPL Migration and Remediation in the Presence of Heterogeneities
§ 54585-OH Permanganate Treatment of DNAPLs in Reactive Barriers and Source Zone Flooding Schemes
§ 55196-OR In Situ, Field Scale Evaluation of Surfactant Enhanced DNAPL Recovery Using a Single-Well, Push-Pull Test
§ 54122-PA A Broad Spectrum Catalytic System for Removal of Toxic Organics from Water By Deep Oxidation
§ 60197-TN Microsensors for In-situ Chemical, Physical, and Radiological Characterization of Mixed Waste
§ 55185-TX New Strategies for Designing Inexpensive but Selective Bioadsorbants for Environmental Pollutants: Selection of Specific Ligands & Their Cell Surface Expression
§ 60069-VT Least-Cost Groundwater Remediation Design Using Uncertain Hydrogeological Information
55012-CO Extraction and Recovery of Mercury and Lead from Aqueous Waste Streams Using Redox-active Layered Metal Chalcogenides
60141-DC Gamma Ray Imaging for Environmental Remediation
55247-IL Sensors Using Molecular Recognition in Luminescent, Conductive Polymers
54571-MA Removal of Heavy Metals and Organic Contaminants from Aqueous Streams by Novel Filtration Methods
54751-NM High Fluence Neutron Source for Nondestructive Characterization of Nuclear Waste
60041-OK Removal of Radioactive Cations and Anions from Polluted Water Using Ligand-Modified Colloid-Enhanced Ultrafiltration
55115-TX The Adsorption and Reaction of Halogenated Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's) on Metal Oxides
54897-WA The Sonophysics and Sonochemistry of Liquid Waste Quantification and Remediation

The following tree shows how the above awards link to this project. When multiple brances are shown leading to or from a problem area, branches to the left are primary links and branches to the right are secondary.

High Cost Project OR-46301 - Portsmouth Remedial Action
                                    
                                    
                                       
Problem Areas Linked to OR-46301: Remedial Action Health / Ecology / Risk
                                       
                                       
                                         
Research Awards Linked to OR-46301:

Pass the mouse over an Award ID for more information, below. Click ID for more detail:

 
54122 54585 54680 54898 55061 55185 55196 55374 55395 60069 60197
 
54571 54751 54897 55012 55115 55247 60041 60141
     
None.
    

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