Mobilization, Extraction, and Removal of Radionuclides. Innovative Technology Summary Report
Groundwater contamination is a common problem at both private and government sites due to past manufacturing practices. Because of the unique mission of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), some DOE sites have groundwater contaminated with uranium and other radionuclides. These contaminants in the groundwater are often laterally dispersed over large areas and located vertically at depths up to hundreds of feet below ground surface, making aquifer restoration a difficult problem. The baseline technology of pump and treat will be very expensive over the extended life-cycles of these projects, predicted to be in excess of 30 to 200 years. At the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP), near Cincinnati Ohio, approximately 220 acres of the Great Miami Aquifer have become contaminated with uranium at concentrations greater than 20 {micro}g/L as a result of nuclear weapons-production operations. The approved aquifer remediation strategy, that of pumping the groundwater and treating at the surface (the Record of Decision [ROD] for Operable Unit 5 [OU5]), was estimated to take approximately 27 years. Re-injection technology, as an enhancement to pump and treat, can accelerate the remediation of a groundwater plume by increasing the rate of aquifer flushing and by providing a hydraulic barrier to mitigate downgradient contaminant migration (Figure 1). Aquifer flushing facilitates the desorption of the metals and radionuclides from the aquifer matrix into the groundwater, making the contaminants more available for removal by pumping. Re-injection systems for aquifer flushing consist of extraction wells, This document contains information on the above-mentioned technology, including description, applicability, cost, and performance data.
- Research Organization:
- Fernald Environmental Management Project, Cincinnati, OH (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science and Technology (OST) (EM-50) (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 779129
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/EM-0559; OST/TMS ID 157; OST/TMS ID 157
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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