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Title: Estimation of natural ground water recharge for the performance assessment of a low-level waste disposal facility at the Hanford Site

Abstract

In 1994, the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) initiated the Recharge Task, under the PNL Vitrification Technology Development (PVTD) project, to assist Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) in designing and assessing the performance of a low-level waste (LLW) disposal facility for the US Department of Energy (DOE). The Recharge Task was established to address the issue of ground water recharge in and around the LLW facility and throughout the Hanford Site as it affects the unconfined aquifer under the facility. The objectives of this report are to summarize the current knowledge of natural ground water recharge at the Hanford Site and to outline the work that must be completed in order to provide defensible estimates of recharge for use in the performance assessment of this LLW disposal facility. Recharge studies at the Hanford Site indicate that recharge rates are highly variable, ranging from nearly zero to greater than 100 mm/yr depending on precipitation, vegetative cover, and soil types. Coarse-textured soils without plants yielded the greatest recharge. Finer-textured soils, with or without plants, yielded the least. Lysimeters provided accurate, short-term measurements of recharge as well as water-balance data for the soil-atmosphere interface and root zone. Tracers provided estimates of longer-term average recharge ratesmore » in undisturbed settings. Numerical models demonstrated the sensitivity of recharge rates to different processes and forecast recharge rates for different conditions. All of these tools (lysimetry, tracers, and numerical models) are considered vital to the development of defensible estimates of natural ground water recharge rates for the performance assessment of a LLW disposal facility at the Hanford Site.« less

Authors:
; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
46664
Report Number(s):
PNL-10508
ON: DE95010323; TRN: 95:011058
DOE Contract Number:  
AC06-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Mar 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
05 NUCLEAR FUELS; HANFORD RESERVATION; RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL; LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; GROUNDWATER RECHARGE; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION; COMPILED DATA

Citation Formats

Rockhold, M. L., Fayer, M. J., Kincaid, C. T., and Gee, G. W. Estimation of natural ground water recharge for the performance assessment of a low-level waste disposal facility at the Hanford Site. United States: N. p., 1995. Web. doi:10.2172/46664.
Rockhold, M. L., Fayer, M. J., Kincaid, C. T., & Gee, G. W. Estimation of natural ground water recharge for the performance assessment of a low-level waste disposal facility at the Hanford Site. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/46664
Rockhold, M. L., Fayer, M. J., Kincaid, C. T., and Gee, G. W. 1995. "Estimation of natural ground water recharge for the performance assessment of a low-level waste disposal facility at the Hanford Site". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/46664. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/46664.
@article{osti_46664,
title = {Estimation of natural ground water recharge for the performance assessment of a low-level waste disposal facility at the Hanford Site},
author = {Rockhold, M. L. and Fayer, M. J. and Kincaid, C. T. and Gee, G. W.},
abstractNote = {In 1994, the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) initiated the Recharge Task, under the PNL Vitrification Technology Development (PVTD) project, to assist Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) in designing and assessing the performance of a low-level waste (LLW) disposal facility for the US Department of Energy (DOE). The Recharge Task was established to address the issue of ground water recharge in and around the LLW facility and throughout the Hanford Site as it affects the unconfined aquifer under the facility. The objectives of this report are to summarize the current knowledge of natural ground water recharge at the Hanford Site and to outline the work that must be completed in order to provide defensible estimates of recharge for use in the performance assessment of this LLW disposal facility. Recharge studies at the Hanford Site indicate that recharge rates are highly variable, ranging from nearly zero to greater than 100 mm/yr depending on precipitation, vegetative cover, and soil types. Coarse-textured soils without plants yielded the greatest recharge. Finer-textured soils, with or without plants, yielded the least. Lysimeters provided accurate, short-term measurements of recharge as well as water-balance data for the soil-atmosphere interface and root zone. Tracers provided estimates of longer-term average recharge rates in undisturbed settings. Numerical models demonstrated the sensitivity of recharge rates to different processes and forecast recharge rates for different conditions. All of these tools (lysimetry, tracers, and numerical models) are considered vital to the development of defensible estimates of natural ground water recharge rates for the performance assessment of a LLW disposal facility at the Hanford Site.},
doi = {10.2172/46664},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/46664}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1995},
month = {Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1995}
}