Soil washing and radioactive contamination
Soil washing, a technique combining both physical and chemical processes to produce significant volume reduction of contaminated soils, is widely regarded as a panacea for the huge inventory of contaminated soils in the DOE Complex. While the technology has been demonstrated for organics and to some extent for metals, review of the publications available on the practical applications to radioactive sites, indicates that most volume reduction is a product of unique circumstances such as screening or floating out non-soil materials containing most of the contaminants, or leaching contaminants (uranium or TRU) that exist as anionic complexes (Grant, 1991) which are not held by the soil cation-exchange-capacity. In either case, the potential for success of the technology is extremely site and contaminant specific. The Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA) guidance on soil washing treatability studies suggests a 50% reduction of contamination in particles over 2mm as a reasonable cutoff for choosing soil washing for further development (EPA, 1991).
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Co., Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-84ID12435
- OSTI ID:
- 10161370
- Report Number(s):
- WINCO-11812; CONF-920851-51; ON: DE92017265
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Spectrum `92: nuclear and hazardous waste management international topical meeting,Boise, ID (United States),23-27 Aug 1992; Other Information: PBD: 20 Mar 1992
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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