Design and implementation of the protective cap/biobarrier experiment at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
- Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States)
The Protective Cap/Biobarrier Experiment (PCBE), initiated in 1993 at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), is a strip-split plot experiment with three replications designed to rigorously test a 2.0-m loessal soil cap against a cap recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency and two caps with biological intrusion barriers. Past research at INEL indicates that it should be possible to exclude water from buried wastes using natural materials and natural processes in arid environments rather than expensive materials (geotextiles) and highly engineered caps. The PCBE will also test the effects of two vegetal covers and three irrigation levels on cap performance. Drainage pans, located at the bottom of each plot, will monitor cap failure. Soil water profiles will be monitored biweekly by neutron probe and continuously by time domain reflectometry. The performance of each cap design will be monitored under a variety of conditions through 1998. From 1994 to 1996, the authors will assess plant establishment, rooting depths, patterns of moisture extraction and their interactions among caps, vegetal covers, and irrigation levels. In 1996, they will introduce ants and burrowing mammals to test the structural integrity of each cap design. In 1998, the authors will apply sufficient water to determine the failure limit for each cap design. The PCBE should provide reliable knowledge of the performances of the four cap designs under a variety of conditions and aid in making hazardous-waste management decisions at INEL and at disposal sites in similar environments.
- OSTI ID:
- 400701
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941124-; ISBN 0-935470-85-9; TRN: 96:030226
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 33. Hanford symposium on health and the environment: symposium on in-situ remediation--scientific basis for current and future technologies, Richland, WA (United States), 7-11 Nov 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of In-situ remediation: Scientific basis for current and future technologies. Part 1; Gee, G.W. [ed.] [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)]; Wing, N.R. [ed.] [Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)]; PB: 704 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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