Assessment of Soil Moisture and Fixatives Performance in Controlling Wind Erosion of Contaminated Soil at the Hanford Site
- Applied Research Center, Florida International Univ., Miami, FL (United States)
During the remediation of burial grounds at the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Hanford Site in Washington State, the dispersion of contaminated soil particles and dust is an issue that is faced by site workers on a daily basis. This contamination issue is even more of a concern when one takes into account the semi-arid characteristics of the region where the site is located. To mitigate this problem, workers at the site use a variety of engineered methods to minimize the dispersion of contaminated soil and dust particles. Once such methods is the use of water and/or suppression agents (fixatives) that stabilizes the soil prior to soil excavation, segregation, and removal activities. A primary contributor to the dispersion of contaminated soil and dust is wind soil erosion. The erosion process occurs when the wind speed exceeds a certain threshold value (threshold shear velocity), which depends on a number of factors including wind force loading, particle size, surface soil moisture, and the geometry of the soil. Thus under these circumstances the mobility of contaminated soil and generation and dispersion of particulate matter are significantly influenced by these parameters. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted at the Florida International University's Applied Research Center (FIU-ARC) to evaluate the effectiveness of three commercially available fixatives in controlling the mobility of soil particles on soil mounds when exposed to varying wind forces. The fixatives tested included: (1) a calcium chloride solution; (2) a petroleum hydrocarbon emulsion; and 3) a synthetic organic. As an initial step, approximately 500 lbs of uncontaminated soil was obtained from the Hanford Reservation in Washington State. Soil samples were placed in an open-loop, low speed wind tunnel and exposed to wind forces ranging from 10 to 30 miles per hour (mph). Wind erosion controlling capabilities of commercially available fixatives and soil moisture were tested at a laboratory scale. Soil samples with varying moisture (W/W %) content and soil samples treated with fixatives, selected from a wide range of commercially available products, were exposed to a wind speeds ranging from 10 - 30 miles per hour (MPH). During these experiments, amount of soil displaced due to the wind forces, the amount of airborne particulates generated, and the moisture loss were measured to better understand the performance of selected fixatives and soil moisture. Results obtained during the study showed that there is a significant reduction in wind erosion and airborne particles generation by increasing the soil moisture for the velocities tested. Similar trend was observed when the soil samples treated with fixatives were exposed to the same range of velocities (10 - 30 MPH). (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21326101
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-10-WM-08264; TRN: US10V0501067466
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM'08: Waste Management Symposium 2008 - HLW, TRU, LLW/ILW, Mixed, Hazardous Wastes and Environmental Management - Phoenix Rising: Moving Forward in Waste Management, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2008; Other Information: Country of input: France; 7 refs
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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