skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Vegetation study in support of the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Abstract

A vegetation study was conducted in Technical Area 3 at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2003 to assist in the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers for hazardous, radioactive, and mixed waste landfills at Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico and Kirtland Air Force Base. The objective of the study was to obtain site-specific, vegetative input parameters for the one-dimensional code UNSAT-H and to identify suitable, diverse native plant species for use on vegetative soil covers that will persist indefinitely as a climax ecological community with little or no maintenance. The identification and selection of appropriate native plant species is critical to the proper design and long-term performance of vegetative soil covers. Major emphasis was placed on the acquisition of representative, site-specific vegetation data. Vegetative input parameters measured in the field during this study include root depth, root length density, and percent bare area. Site-specific leaf area index was not obtained in the area because there was no suitable platform to measure leaf area during the 2003 growing season due to severe drought that has persisted in New Mexico since 1999. Regional LAI data was obtained from two unique desert biomes in New Mexico, Sevilletta Wildlife Refuge and Jornadamore » Research Station.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. (Jerry) L.
  2. (GRAM inc., Albuquerque, NM)
  3. (Marron and Associates, Albuquerque, NM)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Laboratories
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
889427
Report Number(s):
SAND2004-6144
TRN: US200619%%552
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; DESIGN; DROUGHTS; MAINTENANCE; OPTIMIZATION; PERFORMANCE; PLANTS; SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES; SANITARY LANDFILLS; SEASONS; SOILS; WASTES; Landfill final covers.; Vegetation.; Soils.

Citation Formats

Peace, Gerald, Goering, Timothy James, Knight, Paul J., and Ashton, Thomas S. Vegetation study in support of the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.. United States: N. p., 2004. Web. doi:10.2172/889427.
Copy to clipboard
Peace, Gerald, Goering, Timothy James, Knight, Paul J., & Ashton, Thomas S. Vegetation study in support of the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.. United States. doi:10.2172/889427.
Copy to clipboard
Peace, Gerald, Goering, Timothy James, Knight, Paul J., and Ashton, Thomas S. Mon . "Vegetation study in support of the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.". United States. doi:10.2172/889427. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/889427.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_889427,
title = {Vegetation study in support of the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.},
author = {Peace, Gerald and Goering, Timothy James and Knight, Paul J. and Ashton, Thomas S.},
abstractNote = {A vegetation study was conducted in Technical Area 3 at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2003 to assist in the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers for hazardous, radioactive, and mixed waste landfills at Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico and Kirtland Air Force Base. The objective of the study was to obtain site-specific, vegetative input parameters for the one-dimensional code UNSAT-H and to identify suitable, diverse native plant species for use on vegetative soil covers that will persist indefinitely as a climax ecological community with little or no maintenance. The identification and selection of appropriate native plant species is critical to the proper design and long-term performance of vegetative soil covers. Major emphasis was placed on the acquisition of representative, site-specific vegetation data. Vegetative input parameters measured in the field during this study include root depth, root length density, and percent bare area. Site-specific leaf area index was not obtained in the area because there was no suitable platform to measure leaf area during the 2003 growing season due to severe drought that has persisted in New Mexico since 1999. Regional LAI data was obtained from two unique desert biomes in New Mexico, Sevilletta Wildlife Refuge and Jornada Research Station.},
doi = {10.2172/889427},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 2004},
month = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 2004}
}
Copy to clipboard
Technical Report:
View Technical Report
DOI:  10.2172/889427
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

  • ;
    This study demonstrates that containment of municipal and hazardous waste in arid and semiarid environments can be accomplished effectively without traditional, synthetic materials and complex, multi-layer systems. This research demonstrates that closure covers combining layers of natural soil, native plant species, and climatic conditions to form a sustainable, functioning ecosystem will meet the technical equivalency criteria prescribed by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. In this study, percolation through a natural analogue and an engineered cover is simulated using the one-dimensional, numerical code UNSAT-H. UNSAT-H is a Richards. equation-based model that simulates soil water infiltration, unsaturated flow, redistribution, evaporation, plantmore » transpiration, and deep percolation. This study incorporates conservative, site-specific soil hydraulic and vegetation parameters. Historical meteorological data are used to simulate percolation through the natural analogue and an engineered cover, with and without vegetation. This study indicates that a 3-foot (ft) cover in arid and semiarid environments is the minimum design thickness necessary to meet the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency-prescribed technical equivalency criteria of 31.5 millimeters/year and 1 x 10{sup -7} centimeters/second for net annual percolation and average flux, respectively. Increasing cover thickness to 4 or 5 ft results in limited additional improvement in cover performance.« less

  • Adaptive sampling programs offer substantial savings in time and money when assessing hazardous waste sites. Key to some of these savings is the ability to adapt a sampling program to the real-time data generated by an adaptive sampling program. This paper presents a two-prong approach to supporting adaptive sampling programs: a specialized object-oriented database/geographical information system (SitePlanner{trademark} ) for data fusion, management, and display and combined Bayesian/geostatistical methods (PLUME) for contamination-extent estimation and sample location selection. This approach is applied in a retrospective study of a subsurface chromium plume at Sandia National Laboratories` chemical waste landfill. Retrospective analyses suggest themore » potential for characterization cost savings on the order of 60% through a reduction in the number of sampling programs, total number of soil boreholes, and number of samples analyzed from each borehole.« less

  • ; ;
    Passive Soil Vapor Extraction was tested at the Chemical Waste Landfill (CWL) site at Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico (SNLIW). Data collected included ambient pressures, differential pressures between soil gas and ambient air, gas flow rates into and out of the soil and concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCS) in vented soil gas. From the differential pressure and flow rate data, estimates of permeability were arrived at and compared with estimates from other studies. Flow, differential pressure, and ambient pressure data were collected for nearly 30 days. VOC data were collected for two six-hour periods during this time. Total VOCmore » emissions were calculated and found to be under the limit set by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Although a complete process evaluation is not possible with the data gathered, some of the necessary information for designing a passive venting process was determined and the important parameters for designing the process were indicated. More study is required to evaluate long-term VOC removal using passive venting and to establish total remediation costs when passive venting is used as a polishing process following active soil vapor extraction.« less

  • ;
    The Mixed Waste Landfill occupies 2.6 acres in the north-central portion of Technical Area 3 at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The landfill accepted low-level radioactive and mixed waste from March 1959 to December 1988. This report represents the Corrective Measures Study that has been conducted for the Mixed Waste Landfill. The purpose of the study was to identify, develop, and evaluate corrective measures alternatives and recommend the corrective measure(s) to be taken at the site. Based upon detailed evaluation and risk assessment using guidance provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department, themore » U.S. Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories recommend that a vegetative soil cover be deployed as the preferred corrective measure for the Mixed Waste Landfill. The cover would be of sufficient thickness to store precipitation, minimize infiltration and deep percolation, support a healthy vegetative community, and perform with minimal maintenance by emulating the natural analogue ecosystem. There would be no intrusive remedial activities at the site and therefore no potential for exposure to the waste. This alternative poses minimal risk to site workers implementing institutional controls associated with long-term environmental monitoring as well as routine maintenance and surveillance of the site.« less

  • This report concerns the Department of Energy's (Department) oversight of Sandia National Laboratories' (Sandia) salary administration practices for employees not covered by union agreements. Sandia is a management and operating (MandO) contractor responsible for research and development (RandD) relating to nuclear weapons and energy. Sandia's 1987 payroll was $319 million, $42 million for bargaining and $277 million for non-bargaining unit employees. For the period covered by the audit, Department policy required Headquarters monitoring and approval of the reasonableness of MandO contractor salary administration practices in cases where the annual non-bargaining payroll exceeded $75 million. The purpose of this audit wasmore » to determine whether Department oversight of Sandia employee compensation assured that contractor pay rates were consistent with Department policy.« less