Remedial action technology - arid. [Shallow land burial]
A summary is presented of the low-level waste remedial action program at Los Alamos. The experimental design and progress is described for the experiments on second generation intrusion barriers, subsidence effects on SLB components, moisture cycling effects on chemical transport, and erosion control methodologies. The soil moisture data from the bio-intrusion and moisture cycling experiments both demonstrate the overwhelming importance of vegetation in minimizing infiltration of water through trench covers and backfill. Evaporation, as a water loss component in trench covers, is only effective in reducing soil moisture within 40 cm of the trench cover surface. Moisture infiltrating past the zone of evaporation in unvegetated or poorly vegetated trench covers is in storage and accumulates until drainage out of the soil profile occurs. Judicious selection of vegetation species for revegetating a low-level waste site may prevent infiltration of moisture into the trench and, when coupled with other design features (i.e. trench cover slope, tilling and seeding practice), may greatly reduce problems with erosion. Standard US Department of Agriculture erosion plots, when coupled with a state-of-the-art water balance and erosion model (CREAMS) promises to be highly useful in screening proposed remedial action cover designs for low-level waste sites. The erosion plot configuration allows for complete accounting of the water balance in a soil profile. This feature enables the user to optimize cover designs to minimize erosion and infiltration of water into the trench.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 5123252
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-82-2534; CONF-820854-5; ON: DE82022017
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Erosion of earth covers used in shallow land burial at Los Alamos, New Mexico
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ARID LANDS
BACKFILLING
COVERINGS
DESIGN
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EROSION
EVAPORATION
FIELD TESTS
GROUND SUBSIDENCE
INTRUSION
LASL
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MOISTURE
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICAL PROTECTION DEVICES
PLANTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REVEGETATION
TESTING
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER INFLUX