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Title: Options To Cleanup Site-wide Vadose Zone Contamination At The Hanford Site, WA, State

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in south central Washington State lies along the Columbia River and is one of DOE's largest legacy waste management sites. Enormous radionuclide and chemical inventories exist below-ground. These include Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) storage facilities where hazardous and radioactive contaminants were discharged and leaked to the soil surface and to the deep vadose zone and groundwater. The vadose zone is also contaminated from facilities regulated by the RCRA and Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Act. Hanford now contains as much as 28,300 cubic meters of soil contaminated with radionuclides from liquid wastes released near processing facilities. The Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) has set the completion of the cleanup of these sites by 2024. There are numerous technical and regulatory challenges to cleanup of the vadose zone at the Hanford site. This paper attempts to identify the categories of deep vadose zone problem and identifies a few possible regulatory options to clean up the site under the mix of state and federal regulatory authorities. There are four major categories of vadose contamination areas at the Hanford Site. The first is laterally extensivemore » with intermediate depth (ground surface to about 45 meters depth) mostly related to high volume effluent discharge into cribs, ponds and ditches of designated CERCLA facilities. The second is dominated by laterally less extensive mostly related to leaks from RCRA tank farms. The later contamination is often commingled at depth with wastes from adjacent CERCLA facilities. The third category is from the high volume CERCLA facilities extending from the surface to more than 60 meters below ground. Contamination from the later category crosses the entire thickness of the vadose zone and reached groundwater. The fourth category is the lower volume waste sites. There are multiple management options to clean up the above four categories of vadose zones sites. The following are some of the options considered for detailed evaluation: - Maintain separate decision processes for each RCRA and CERCLA units/waste sites with a more accommodating schedule. - Create new vadose zone operable units with limited geographical boundaries regardless of site category/origin and make an integrated decision. - Expand the existing CERCLA groundwater operable units to include the deep vadose zone - Use a combination of the above. Each option has pros and cons and regulatory limitations. Detailed evaluation of these options is required to support a cost effective expedited cleanup. (authors)« less

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Ph.D, and John Price, Nuclear Waste Program, Washington State Department of Ecology, Richland, WA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
21319812
Report Number(s):
INIS-US-10-WM-08483
TRN: US10V0647062003
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: 2008 Waste Management Symposium - WM2008/WM'08: HLW, TRU, LLW/ILW, Mixed, Hazardous Wastes and Environmental Management - Phoenix Rising: Moving Forward in Waste Management, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2008; Other Information: Country of input: France; 3 refs
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; CONTAMINATION; GROUND WATER; LIQUID WASTES; RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT; RADIOACTIVE WASTES; REMEDIAL ACTION; STORAGE FACILITIES; US SUPERFUND

Citation Formats

Goswami, D. Options To Cleanup Site-wide Vadose Zone Contamination At The Hanford Site, WA, State. United States: N. p., 2008. Web.
Goswami, D. Options To Cleanup Site-wide Vadose Zone Contamination At The Hanford Site, WA, State. United States.
Goswami, D. 2008. "Options To Cleanup Site-wide Vadose Zone Contamination At The Hanford Site, WA, State". United States.
@article{osti_21319812,
title = {Options To Cleanup Site-wide Vadose Zone Contamination At The Hanford Site, WA, State},
author = {Goswami, D},
abstractNote = {The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in south central Washington State lies along the Columbia River and is one of DOE's largest legacy waste management sites. Enormous radionuclide and chemical inventories exist below-ground. These include Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) storage facilities where hazardous and radioactive contaminants were discharged and leaked to the soil surface and to the deep vadose zone and groundwater. The vadose zone is also contaminated from facilities regulated by the RCRA and Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Act. Hanford now contains as much as 28,300 cubic meters of soil contaminated with radionuclides from liquid wastes released near processing facilities. The Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) has set the completion of the cleanup of these sites by 2024. There are numerous technical and regulatory challenges to cleanup of the vadose zone at the Hanford site. This paper attempts to identify the categories of deep vadose zone problem and identifies a few possible regulatory options to clean up the site under the mix of state and federal regulatory authorities. There are four major categories of vadose contamination areas at the Hanford Site. The first is laterally extensive with intermediate depth (ground surface to about 45 meters depth) mostly related to high volume effluent discharge into cribs, ponds and ditches of designated CERCLA facilities. The second is dominated by laterally less extensive mostly related to leaks from RCRA tank farms. The later contamination is often commingled at depth with wastes from adjacent CERCLA facilities. The third category is from the high volume CERCLA facilities extending from the surface to more than 60 meters below ground. Contamination from the later category crosses the entire thickness of the vadose zone and reached groundwater. The fourth category is the lower volume waste sites. There are multiple management options to clean up the above four categories of vadose zones sites. The following are some of the options considered for detailed evaluation: - Maintain separate decision processes for each RCRA and CERCLA units/waste sites with a more accommodating schedule. - Create new vadose zone operable units with limited geographical boundaries regardless of site category/origin and make an integrated decision. - Expand the existing CERCLA groundwater operable units to include the deep vadose zone - Use a combination of the above. Each option has pros and cons and regulatory limitations. Detailed evaluation of these options is required to support a cost effective expedited cleanup. (authors)},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21319812}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008},
month = {Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008}
}

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