Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Balance-of-Plant Facilities
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) operates a number of Research & Development (R&D) facilities for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on the Hanford Site. Facility effluent monitoring plans (FEMPs) have been developed to document the facility effluent monitoring portion of the Environmental Monitoring Plan (DOE 2000) for the Hanford Site. Three of PNNL’s R&D facilities, the 325, 331, and 3720 Buildings, are considered major emission points for radionuclide air sampling, and individual FEMPs were developed for these facilities in the past. In addition, a balance-of-plant (BOP) FEMP was developed for all other DOE-owned, PNNL-operated facilities at the Hanford Site. Recent changes, including shutdown of buildings and transition of PNNL facilities to the Office of Science, have resulted in retiring the 3720 FEMP and combining the 331 FEMP into the BOP FEMP. This version of the BOP FEMP addresses all DOE-owned, PNNL-operated facilities at the Hanford Site, excepting the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory, which has its own FEMP because of the unique nature of the building and operations. Activities in the BOP facilities range from administrative to laboratory and pilot-scale R&D. R&D activities include both radioactive and chemical waste characterization, fluid dynamics research, mechanical property testing, dosimetry research, and molecular sciences. The mission and activities for individual buildings are described in Appendix A. Potential radioactive airborne emissions in the BOP facilities are estimated annually using a building inventory-based approach provided in federal regulations. Sampling at individual BOP facilities is based on a potential-to-emit assessment. Some of these facilities are considered minor emission points and thus are sampled routinely, but not continuously, to confirm the low emission potential. One facility, the 331 Life Sciences Laboratory, has a major emission point and is sampled continuously. Sampling systems are located downstream of control technologies and just before discharge to the atmosphere. The need for monitoring airborne emissions of hazardous chemicals is established in the Hanford Site Air Operating Permit and in notices of construction. Based on the current potential-to-emit, the Hanford Site Air Operating Permit does not contain general monitoring requirements for BOP facilities. However, the permit identifies monitoring requirements for specific projects and buildings. Needs for future monitoring will be established by future permits issued pursuant to the applicable state and federal regulations. A number of liquid-effluent discharge systems serve the BOP facilities: sanitary sewer, process sewer, retention process sewer, and aquaculture system. Only the latter system discharges to the environment; the rest either discharge to treatment plants or to long-term storage. Routine compliance sampling of liquid effluents is only required at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory. Liquid effluents from other BOP facilities may be sampled or monitored to characterize facility effluents or to investigate discharges of concern. Effluent sampling and monitoring for the BOP facilities depends on the inventories, activities, and environmental permits in place for each facility. A description of routine compliance monitoring for BOP facilities is described in the BOP FEMP.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 951878
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-12160 Rev. 2; TRN: US200913%%245
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Balance-of-Plant Facilities
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Related Subjects
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AQUACULTURE
CHEMICAL WASTES
COMPLIANCE
CONSTRUCTION
DOSIMETRY
INVENTORIES
LIQUID WASTES
MONITORING
PROCESSING
RADIOISOTOPES
REGULATIONS
RETENTION
SAMPLING
SHUTDOWN
STORAGE
TESTING
effluent monitoring
facility monitoring
facility effluent
air emissions monitoring
wastewater monitoring