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Title: APPLICATION OF THE LASAGNA{trademark} SOIL REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGY AT THE DOE PADUCAH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT

Conference ·
OSTI ID:825771

The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), owned by the Department of Energy (DOE), has been enriching uranium since the early 1950s. The enrichment process involves electrical and mechanical components that require periodic cleaning. The primary cleaning agent was trichloroethene (TCE) until the late 1980s. Historical documentation indicates that a mixture of TCE and dry ice were used at PGDP for testing the integrity of steel cylinders, which stored depleted uranium. TCE and dry ice were contained in a below-ground pit and used during the integrity testing. TCE seeped from the pit and contaminated the surrounding soil. The Lasagna{trademark} technology was identified in the Record of Decision (ROD) as the selected alternative for remediation of the cylinder testing site. A public-private consortium formed in 1992 (including DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection, Monsanto, DuPont, and General Electric) developed the Lasagna{trademark} technology. This innovative technology employs electrokinetics to remediate soil contaminated with organics and is especially suited to sites with low permeability soils. This technology uses direct current to move water through the soil faster and more uniformly than hydraulic methods. Electrokinetics moves contaminants in soil pore water through treatment zones comprised of iron filings, where the contaminants are decomposed to basic chemical compounds such as ethane. After three years of development in the laboratory, the consortium field tested the Lasagna{trademark} process in several phases. CDM installed and operated Phase I, the trial installation and field test of a 150-square-foot area selected for a 120-day run in 1995. Approximately 98 percent of the TCE was removed. CDM then installed and operated the next phase (IIa), a year-long test on a 600-square-foot site. Completed in July 1997, this test removed 75 percent of the total volume of TCE down to a depth of 45 feet. TCE in the test sites. Based on the successful field tests (Phases I and IIa), the ROD was prepared and the Lasagna{trademark} alternative was selected for remediation of TCE contaminated soils at the cylinder testing site Solid Waste Management Unit 91(SWMU 91). Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC contracted CDM to construct and operate a full-scale Lasagna{trademark} remediation system at the site (Phase IIb). Construction began in August 1999 and the operational phase was initiated in December 1999. The Lasagna{trademark} system was operated for two years and reduced the average concentration of TCE in SWMU 91 soil from 84 ppm to less than 5.6 ppm. Verification sampling was conducted during May, 2002. Results of the verification sampling indicated the average concentration of TCE in SWMU 91 soil was 0.38 ppm with a high concentration of 4.5 ppm.

Research Organization:
CDM, 325 Kentucky Avenue, Kevil, KY 42053 (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
WM Symposia, Inc. (US)
OSTI ID:
825771
Resource Relation:
Conference: Waste Management 2003 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/23/2003--02/27/2003; Other Information: PBD: 27 Feb 2003
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English