Research Investment Pays Off
It has been estimated that managing U.S. Department of Energy?s (DOE?s) legacy wastes and restoring contaminated subsurface environments across the nuclear weapons complex will require decades and many tens of billions of dollars. For ten years, the Subsurface Science and Technology Development Program (SSTDP) in the Office of Energy Research at DOE has supported research resulting in a fundamental knowledge base of interactive geochemical, microbiological, and physical processes that has in turn spun off several cost-effective, innovative approaches to cleanup. One important example of such a ?spin-off? technology that can be directly traced to these basic sciences is in situ reduction-oxidation (redox) manipulation (ISRM). ISRM is a method for treating redox-sensitive contaminants in unconfined aquifers. Permeable chemical barriers can be created with ISRM technology, immobilizing some metals and radionuclides, such as chromium (Cr), uranium (U) and technetium (Tc) and dehalogenating some organic contaminants, such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). A pilot-scale ISRM experiment involving subsurface injection of sodium dithionite was initiated in September of 1995 at the Hanford Site in Washington State. Based on the results of the pilot scale experiment and engineering calculations, net discounted savings of $13 to $16 million appear possible at Hanford over conventional pump-and-treat technology. Allowing for the cost of the technology development program to date still gives net benefits of the SSTDP project of at least $6 to $9 million at Hanford alone. Several tens of millions of additional savings appear possible at other sites.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 15001106
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-31769; TRN: US200401%%464
- Journal Information:
- Soil & groundwater cleanup, (October):6-13, Journal Name: Soil & groundwater cleanup, (October):6-13
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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