Detecting leaks from the Hanford single shell tanks using electrical resistance tomography

Conference · Wed Jun 22 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10168250

Daily, W A; Ramirez, A ^[1]; LaBrecque, D ^[2]; Binley, A; Iwatate, D ^[3]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
2. Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ (United States)
3. Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)

The US Department of Energy has used many large steel tanks for storage of toxic and radioactive wastes. Now, a decision has been made to remediate these tanks but many are leaking and others are likely to start leaking during clean up. A method is needed to detect the presence of such leaks and locate the leaks to assist in soil clean up. Current methods of detecting leakage are not always satisfactory. Careful measurement of tank inventory is a simple method, however, the leak size is limited by complicating factors like temperature variations and the method can be impractical if the tank contains both solid and liquids. Moisture, chemical or radiological sensors can be placed beneath a tank to detect the effects of contamination in subsurface soils. However, in an in homogeneous soil, plumes can be highly channeled and these sensors can easily miss spills.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 10168250
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC--117486; CONF-941196--1; ON: DE94015325
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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