Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 34: Area 3 Contaminated Waste Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (Rev. 0, March 2001)
This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office's approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 34 under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Corrective Action Unit 34 consists of four Corrective Action Sites (CASs). The CAU is located within the Area 3 Compound at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in the vicinity of the Mud Plant Facility in Yucca Valley. Historically, CAS 03-09-07, Mud Pit, was used for disposal of excess mud from washing drilling equipment from 1968 to 1974, at which time it began to be used for excess mud disposal (currently inactive); CAS 03-44-01, Chromium Contamination Spill, was used to store additives used in the formulation of drilling mud from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s; CAS 03-47-02, Area 3 Mud Plant Pond, was used as a freshwater storage reservoir for the mud plant as well as supplied water for a number of activities including the mixing of mud, the rinsing and cleaning of tanks, and various washdowns from the 1960s through 1990s; and CAS 03-09-06, Mud Disposal Crater, was created in 1962 by an underground nuclear detonation (i.e., Chinchilla test) and was used to mix and store mud, dispose of receiving waste from the mud plant floor drains and excess drilling mud, and clean/flush mix tanks through the mid-1990s. Based on site history, the scope of this plan is to identify potentially contaminated ground soil at each of the four CASs and determine the quantity, nature, and extent of contaminants of potential concern (COPCs). The investigation will include systematic and biased surface and subsurface soil and mud sampling using hand-auguring and direct-push techniques; visual, video, and/or electromagnetic surveys of pipes; field screening for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and alpha/beta-emitting radionuclides; and laboratory analysis to characterize any investigation-derived waste for disposal both on site at NTS and at off-site locations. Historical information provided by former NTS employees indicates that COPCs include VOCs, semivolatile organic compounds, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, gamma-emitting radionuclides, isotopic plutonium, and strontium-90. The results of this field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of corrective action alternatives in the corrective action decision document.
- Research Organization:
- IT Corporation, Las Vegas, NV (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC08-97NV13052
- OSTI ID:
- 788914
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/NV-701; TRN: AH200137%%265
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 27 Mar 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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