Surface stabilization and revegetation test plots. Fiscal year 1993 status report
Westinghouse Hanford Company Decommissioning and Decontamination Engineering Group and Environmental Technology and Assessment Groups are developing new technologies to improve revegetation techniques for interim stabilization control over underground waste sites within the Radiation Area Remedial Action Program. Successful revegetation is an integral aspect of waste isolation strategy. Unfortunately, revegetation can be very difficult to achieve on the Hanford Site due to several factors: low annual precipitation, unpredictable timing of precipitation, low fertility of available soils, and coarse physical texture of soils covering waste sites. The tests in this report were performed during fiscal years 1992 and 1993 and include the use of two soil sealants in combination with bare soil and a soil/compost mixture and a comparison of a wheatgrass mixture and a native seed mixture. Hydroprobe access ports were placed in one-half of the test plots and moisture data was collected. Soil fertility and plant community characteristics were monitored during the two years of the test. During the first year all sites with compost provided additional fertility and retained greater amounts of soil moisture than noncomposted sites. The use of Enduraseal soil fixative provided greater soil moisture than the use of Aerospray-77 soil fixative. During the second year the use of compost and soil fixative`s had a lesser effect on soil moisture. During late summer periods all treatments had very similar soil moisture profiles. The use of compost greatly increased vegetative cover and soil fertility in comparison to sites that had no compost added. Testing of the seed mixtures found that Siberian wheatgrass and Sandberg`s bluegrass were the most dominant of the seeded species observed. All plots exhibited a dominant plant cover of volunteer cheatgrass. Biomass production was significantly greater on plots with compost than on the noncomposted plots.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-87RL10930
- OSTI ID:
- 10186824
- Report Number(s):
- WHC-EP-0684; ON: DE94001238; TRN: 93:023056
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Sep 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
REVEGETATION
FIELD TESTS
REMEDIAL ACTION
PROGRESS REPORT
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
GROUND COVER
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
STABILIZATION
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
FERTILITY
SOILS
TEXTURE
MOISTURE
COMPOST
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
GRAMINEAE
HANFORD RESERVATION
POPULATION DYNAMICS
054000
052002
540250
HEALTH AND SAFETY
WASTE DISPOSAL AND STORAGE
SITE RESOURCE AND USE STUDIES