Performance Assessment Monitoring Plan for the Hanford Site Low-Level Burial Grounds
The U.S. Department of Energy Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management, requires a disposal authorization statement authorizing operation (or continued operation) for low-level waste disposal facilities. In fulfillment of these requirements, a disposal authorization statement was issued on October 25, 1999, authorizing the Hanford Site to transfer, receive, possess, and dispose of low-level radioactive waste at the 200 East Area burial grounds and the 200 West Area burial grounds. One of the conditions is that monitoring plans for the 200 East Area and 200 West Area low-level burial grounds be written and approved by the Richland Operations Office. As a result of a record of decision for the Hanford Site Solid Waste Program and acceptance of the Hanford Site Solid Waste Environmental Impact Statement, the use of the low-level burial ground (LLBG) as a disposal facility for low-level and mixed low-level wastes has been restricted to lined trenches and the Navy reactor-compartment trench only. Hence, as of July 2004, only the two lined trenches in burial ground 218-W-5 (trenches 31 and 34, see Appendix A) and the Navy reactor-compartment trench in burial ground 218 E 12B (trench 94) are allowed to receive waste. When the two lined trenches are filled, the LLBG will cease to operate except for reactor compartment disposal at trench 94. Remaining operational lifetime of the LLBG is dependent on waste volume disposal rates. Existing programs for air sampling and analyses and subsidence monitoring are currently adequate for performance assessment at the LLBG. The waste disposal authorization for the Hanford Site is based (in part) on the post-closure performance assessments for the LLBG. In order to maintain a useful link between operational monitoring (e.g., Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA], Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and State Waste Discharge Permits), constituents, monitoring frequencies, and boundaries require regular review and comparison. The annual reports discussed here are the primary sources for these reviews. The pathways of interest are air and groundwater for both operational and post-closure conditions at the LLBG, with groundwater considered to be the most significant long-term exposure pathway. Constituents that contributed at least 0.1% of the total relative hazard were selected as target analytes for monitoring. These are technetium-99, uranium, and iodine-129. Because of its environmental unavailability, carbon 14 was removed from the list of constituents. Given the potential uncertainties in inventories at the 200 Area LLBG and the usefulness of tritium as a contaminant indicator, tritium will be monitored as a constituent of concern at all burial grounds. Preexisting contamination plumes in groundwater beneath low-level waste management areas are attributed to other past-practice liquid waste disposal sites. Groundwater and air will be sampled and analyzed for radiogenic components. Subsidence monitoring will also be performed on a regular basis. The existing near-facility and surveillance air monitoring programs are sufficient to satisfy the performance assessment monitoring. Groundwater monitoring will utilize the existing network of wells at the LLBG, and co-sampling with RCRA groundwater monitoring, to be sampled semiannually. Installation of additional wells is currently underway to replace wells that have gone dry.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE - Office of Environmental Management (EM)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 878238
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/RL-2000-72 Rev 1; TRN: US0602322
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Annual Status Report (FY 2018): Performance Assessment for the Disposal of Low-Level Waste in the 200 East Area Burial Grounds (Rev. 0)
Performance Assessment for the Disposal of Low-Level Waste in the 200 West Area Burial Grounds (Annual Status Report FY 2022)
Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
CARBON 14
COMPARTMENTS
CONTAMINATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
INVENTORIES
IODINE 129
LIFETIME
LIQUID WASTES
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
PLUMES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
SAMPLING
SOLID WASTES
TARGETS
TECHNETIUM 99
TRITIUM
URANIUM
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT