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Title: THE BC CRIBS & TRENCHES GEOPHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION PROJECT ONE STEP FORWARD IN HANFORDS CLEANUP PROCESS

Abstract

A geophysical characterization project was conducted at the BC Cribs and Trenches Area, located south of 200 East at the Hanford Site. The area consists of 26 waste disposal trenches and cribs, which received approximately 30 million gallons of liquid waste from the uranium recovery process and the ferrocyanide processes associated with wastes generated by reprocessing nuclear fuel. Waste discharges to BC Cribs contributed perhaps the largest liquid fraction of contaminants to the ground in the 200 Areas. The site also includes possibly the largest inventory of Tc-99 ever disposed to the soil at Hanford with an estimated quantity of 400 Ci. Other waste constituents included high volumes of nitrate and U-238. The geophysical characterization at the 50 acre site primarily included high resolution resistivity (HRR). The resistivity technique is a non-invasive method by which electrical resistivity data are collected along linear transects, and data are presented as continuous profiles of subsurface electrical properties. The transects ranged in size from about 400-700 meters and provided information down to depths of 60 meters. The site was characterized by a network of 51 HRR lines with a total of approximately 19.7 line kilometers of data collected parallel and perpendicular to the trenchesmore » and cribs. The data were compiled to form a three-dimensional representation of low resistivity values. Low resistivity, or high conductivity, is indicative of high ionic strength soil and porewater resulting from the migration of nitrate and other inorganic constituents through the vadose zone. High spatial density soil data from a single borehole, that included coincident nitrate concentrations, electrical conductivity, and Tc-99, were used to transform the electrical resistivity data into a nitrate plume. The plume was shown to extend laterally beyond the original boundaries of the waste site and, in one area, to depths that exceeded the characterization strategy. It is unknown whether the plume reached the water table, located approximately 104 meters below ground surface.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Hanford Site (HNF), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE - Office of Environmental Management (EM)
OSTI Identifier:
876698
Report Number(s):
HNF-29053-FP Rev 0
TRN: US0601239
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC06-96RL13200
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: WASTE MANAGEMENT WM'06 CONFERENCE 02/26/2006 Thru 03/02/2006 TUCSON, AZ
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY; ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES; FERROCYANIDES; LIQUID WASTES; NITRATES; NUCLEAR FUELS; PLUMES; REPROCESSING; RESOLUTION; SOILS; URANIUM; WASTE DISPOSAL; WASTE MANAGEMENT; WASTES; WATER TABLES

Citation Formats

BENECKE, MN W. THE BC CRIBS & TRENCHES GEOPHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION PROJECT ONE STEP FORWARD IN HANFORDS CLEANUP PROCESS. United States: N. p., 2006. Web.
BENECKE, MN W. THE BC CRIBS & TRENCHES GEOPHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION PROJECT ONE STEP FORWARD IN HANFORDS CLEANUP PROCESS. United States.
BENECKE, MN W. 2006. "THE BC CRIBS & TRENCHES GEOPHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION PROJECT ONE STEP FORWARD IN HANFORDS CLEANUP PROCESS". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/876698.
@article{osti_876698,
title = {THE BC CRIBS & TRENCHES GEOPHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION PROJECT ONE STEP FORWARD IN HANFORDS CLEANUP PROCESS},
author = {BENECKE, MN W},
abstractNote = {A geophysical characterization project was conducted at the BC Cribs and Trenches Area, located south of 200 East at the Hanford Site. The area consists of 26 waste disposal trenches and cribs, which received approximately 30 million gallons of liquid waste from the uranium recovery process and the ferrocyanide processes associated with wastes generated by reprocessing nuclear fuel. Waste discharges to BC Cribs contributed perhaps the largest liquid fraction of contaminants to the ground in the 200 Areas. The site also includes possibly the largest inventory of Tc-99 ever disposed to the soil at Hanford with an estimated quantity of 400 Ci. Other waste constituents included high volumes of nitrate and U-238. The geophysical characterization at the 50 acre site primarily included high resolution resistivity (HRR). The resistivity technique is a non-invasive method by which electrical resistivity data are collected along linear transects, and data are presented as continuous profiles of subsurface electrical properties. The transects ranged in size from about 400-700 meters and provided information down to depths of 60 meters. The site was characterized by a network of 51 HRR lines with a total of approximately 19.7 line kilometers of data collected parallel and perpendicular to the trenches and cribs. The data were compiled to form a three-dimensional representation of low resistivity values. Low resistivity, or high conductivity, is indicative of high ionic strength soil and porewater resulting from the migration of nitrate and other inorganic constituents through the vadose zone. High spatial density soil data from a single borehole, that included coincident nitrate concentrations, electrical conductivity, and Tc-99, were used to transform the electrical resistivity data into a nitrate plume. The plume was shown to extend laterally beyond the original boundaries of the waste site and, in one area, to depths that exceeded the characterization strategy. It is unknown whether the plume reached the water table, located approximately 104 meters below ground surface.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/876698}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Feb 22 00:00:00 EST 2006},
month = {Wed Feb 22 00:00:00 EST 2006}
}

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