Characterizing groundwater at Oak Ridge National Laboratory hazardous waste sites
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a large multipurpose US Department of Energy research facility located in East Tennessee on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). The legacy of fifty years of operations at ORNL includes a variety of contaminated inactive facilities, research areas, and former waste disposal areas. At ORNL the majority of wastes were buried in shallow trenches above the water table. Groups of geographically contiguous areas, referred to as waste area groupings (WAGs), were defined for the Environmental Restoration Program so that a suitable monitoring system could be established. Thirteen WAGs at ORNL have been identified as potential sources of groundwater contamination. The main objective of the work described in this paper was to develop a systematic means for analyzing routine groundwater monitoring data from all WAGs to facilitate interpretation at a scale larger than individual monitoring points, to look for patterns that suggest general principles. In particular we wanted to determine whether specific geologic formations have discernable groundwater chemical signatures. The description of geologic formations in terms of their groundwater chemical signatures can be used in several practical ways. Positioning of down gradient sampling locations can be evaluated by comparing contaminant source and down gradient geochemistries. The geochemistry of contaminated seeps and springs can be used to suggest a likely stratigraphic association to the contaminant source. Also, the contaminant source location geochemistry and knowledge of the geologic unit`s potential for strata-bound flow can be used to predict exit pathways from contaminant sources.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10178762
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9408107-3; ON: DE94017864
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: American Statistical Association,Toronto (Canada),14-18 Aug 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Wet season reconnaissance report on Seeps and Springs in Waste Area Grouping 6 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Environmental Restoration Program
Remedial investigation report on waste area grouping 5 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Volume 4, Appendix C, Risk assessment
Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
GROUND DISPOSAL
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
GROUND WATER
MONITORING
ORNL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
GEOCHEMISTRY
MULTIPERIPHERAL MODEL
052002
540230
540220
054000
990200
WASTE DISPOSAL AND STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
HEALTH AND SAFETY
MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTERS