ALTERNATIVE FIELD METHODS TO TREAT MERCURY IN SOIL
The Department of Energy (DOE) currently has mercury (Hg) contaminated materials and soils at the various sites. Figure 1-1 (from http://www.ct.ornl.gov/stcg.hg/) shows the estimated distribution of mercury contaminated waste at the various DOE sites. Oak Ridge and Idaho sites have the largest deposits of contaminated materials. The majorities of these contaminated materials are soils, sludges, debris, and waste waters. This project concerns treatment of mercury contaminated soils. The technology is applicable to many DOE sites, in-particular, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge Tennessee and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). These sites have the majority of the soils and sediments contaminated with mercury. The soils may also be contaminated with other hazardous metals and radionuclides. At the Y12 plant, the baseline treatment method for mercury contaminated soil is low temperature thermal desorption (LTTD), followed by on-site landfill disposal. LTTD is relatively expensive (estimated cost of treatment which exclude disposal cost for the collect mercury is greater than $740/per cubic yard [cy] at Y-12), does not treat any of the metal or radionuclides. DOE is seeking a less costly alternative to the baseline technology. As described in the solicitation (DE-RA-01NT41030), this project initially focused on evaluating cost-effective in-situ alternatives to stabilize or remove the mercury (Hg) contamination from high-clay content soil. It was believed that ex-situ treatment of soil contaminated with significant quantities of free-liquid mercury might pose challenges during excavation and handling. Such challenges may include controlling potential mercury vapors and containing liquid mercury beads. As described below, the focus of this project was expanded to include consideration of ex-situ treatment after award of the contract to International Technology Corporation (IT). After award of the contract, IT became part of Shaw E&I. The company will be denoted as ''IT'' for the rest of the document since the original contract was awarded to IT. This report details IT, Knoxville, TN and its subcontractor Nuclear Fuels Services (NFS) study to investigate alternative mercury treatment technology. The IT/NFS team demonstrated two processes for the amalgamation/stabilization/fixation of mercury and potentially Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) and radionuclide-contaminated soils. This project was to identify and demonstrate remedial methods to clean up mercury-contaminated soil using established treatment chemistries on soil from the Oak Ridge Reservation, Y-12 National Security Complex, the off-site David Witherspoon properties, and/or other similarly contaminated sites. Soil from the basement of Y-12 Plant Alpha 2 Building at the Oak Ridge Reservation was received at IT and NFS on December 20, 2001. Soils from the other locations were not investigated. The soil had background levels of radioactivity and had all eight RCRA metals well below the Toxicity Characteristic (TC) criteria. This project addresses the new DOE Environmental Management Thrust 2 ''Alternative Approaches to Current High Risk/High Cost Baselines''. Successful completion of this project will provide a step-change in DOE's treatment ability.
- Research Organization:
- IT Corporation (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC26-01NT41345
- OSTI ID:
- 840657
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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