Glendon W. Gee

Vadose Zone Contaminant Fate and Transport Analysis for the 216-B-26 Trench

The BC Cribs and Trenches, part of the 200 TW 1 OU waste sites, received about 30 Mgal of scavenged tank waste, with possibly the largest inventory of 99Tc ever disposed to the soil at Hanford and site remediation is being accelerated. The purpose of this work was to develop a conceptual model for contaminant fate and transport at the 216-B-26 Trench site to support identification and development and evaluation of remediation alternatives. Large concentrations of 99Tc high above the water table implicated stratigraphy in the control of the downward migration. The current conceptual model accounts for small-scale stratigraphy; site-specific changes soil properties; tilted layers; and lateral spreading. It assumes the layers are spatially continuous causing water and solutes to move laterally across the boundary if conditions permit. Water influx at the surface is assumed to be steady. Model parameters were generated with pedotransfer functions; these were coupled high resolution neutron moisture logs that provided information on the underlying heterogeneity on a scale of 3 inches. Two approaches were used to evaluate the impact of remedial options on transport. In the first, a 1-D convolution solution to the convective-dispersive equation was used, assuming steady flow. This model was used tomorexa0» predict future movement of the existing plume using the mean and depth dependent moisture content. In the second approach, the STOMP model was used to first predict the current plume distribution followed by its future migration. Redistribution of the 99Tc plume was simulated for the no-action alternative and on-site capping. Hypothetical caps limiting recharge to 1.0, 0.5, and 0.1 mm yr-1 were considered and assumed not to degrade in the long term. Results show that arrival time of the MCLs, the peak arrival time, and the arrival time of the center of mass increased with decreasing recharge rate. The 1-D convolution model is easy to apply and can easily accommodate initial contaminant inventory and water content depth distributions of any complexity. However, the results are somewhat conservative in that the model does not take credit for stratification and its dimensionality effects. Transient analysis shows transport to be controlled by small-scale stratification that resulted in laterally movement of contaminants and their failure to reach the ground water. Multiple discharges quickly merged into a single plume that migrated beyond the domain boundaries. However, it appears that this very feature that was effective in mitigating deep transport of the contaminants for almost 50 years now functions to confound expected barrier effects. Simulations suggest that a barrier provides no additional protection above the no-action alternative. Although continuous layers are assumed, in reality, there may be discontinuities that could lead to vertical movement. Episodic recharge events could also be conducive to downward movement. As more data becomes available, the conceptual model will be revised. Based on the analyses, capping appears to be no better than the no-action alternative. Projected 99Tc concentrations reaching the groundwater suggest that alternate source control actions may be necessary to reach soil screening levels. The benefits of active remediation are therefore readily apparent. Because none of the alternatives reduce soil concentrations, they effect no active reduction in the groundwater concentrations therefore the residual risk will remain high.«xa0less

Vadose Zone Transport Field Study: Soil Water Content Distributions by Neutron Moderation

Contaminant transport through the vadose zone is a complex process controlled largely by interactions between subsurface lithologic features, water flow, and fluid properties. Understanding the processes controlling transport is an important prerequisite to the development and implementation of effective soil and ground water remediation programs. However, difficulties in directly observing and sampling the subsurface can complicate attempts to better describe subsurface transport processes and is mostly responsible for the large amount of uncertainty associated with vadose zone processes. The reduction of the uncertainty has been identified as a site need at Hanford by the STCG and the National Research Council (2000a) and is a key aspect of the site?s science and technology effort.

Vadose Zone Transport Field Study: FY 2002 Status Report

This work reported here is part of the U. S. Department of Energy’s Science and Technology Initiative to develop improved conceptual models of flow and transport in the vadose zone, particularly for the Hanford Site, Washington. The National Academy of Sciences has identified significant knowledge gaps in conceptual model development as one reason for discovery of subsurface contamination in unexpected places. Inadequate conceptualizations limits, not only the understanding of long-term fate and transport, but also the selection and design of remediation technologies. Current conceptual models are limited partly because they do not account for the random heterogeneity that occurs under the extremes of very nonlinear flow behavior typical of the Hanford vadose zone. A major improvement in conceptual modeling of the Hanford vadose zone includes a better understanding and description of soil anisotropy, a property that appears to control much of the subsurface flow and transport in layered sediments at the Hanford Site.

Hydrologic Characterization Using Vadose Zone Monitoring Tools: Status Report

Hydrologic characterization of the vadose zone (from soil surface to the underlying water table) is needed to assess contaminant migration from buried wastes. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, under contract with the U. S. Department of Energys EM-50 (Subsurface Contamination Focus Area), and in collaboration with CH2MHILL Hanford Group, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), and Duratek Federal Services (DFS), deployed a suite of vadose-zone instruments at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. Several new instruments were tested.

Vadose Zone Transport Field Study: Detailed Test Plan for Simulated Leak Tests

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Groundwater/Vadose Zone Integration Project Science and Technology initiative was created in FY 1999 to reduce the uncertainty associated with vadose zone transport processes beneath waste sites at DOEs Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. This information is needed not only to evaluate the risks from transport, but also to support the adoption of measures for minimizing impacts to the groundwater and surrounding environment. The principal uncertainties in vadose zone transport are the current distribution of source contaminants and the natural heterogeneity of the soil in which the contaminants reside. Oversimplified conceptual models resulting from these uncertainties and limited use of hydrologic characterization and monitoring technologies have hampered the understanding contaminant migration through Hanfords vadose zone. Essential prerequisites for reducing vadose transport uncertainly include the development of accurate conceptual models and the development or adoption of monitoring techniques capable of delineating the current distributions of source contaminants and characterizing natural site heterogeneity. The Vadose Zone Transport Field Study (VZTFS) was conceived as part of the initiative to address the major uncertainties confronting vadose zone fate and transport predictions at the Hanford Site and to overcome the limitations of previous characterization attempts. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is managing the VZTFS for DOE. The VZTFS will conduct field investigations that will improve the understanding of field-scale transport and lead to the development or identification of efficient and cost-effective characterization methods. Ideally, these methods will capture the extent of contaminant plumes using existing infrastructure (i.e., more than 1,300 steel-cased boreholes). The objectives of the VZTFS are to conduct controlled transport experiments at well-instrumented field sites at Hanford to: identify mechanisms controlling transport processes in soils typical of the hydrogeologic conditions of Hanfords waste disposal sites; reduce uncertainty in conceptual models; develop a detailed and accurate database of hydraulic and transport parameters for validation of three-dimensional numerical models; identify and evaluate advanced, cost-effective characterization methods with the potential to assess changing conditions in the vadose zone, particularly as surrogates of currently undetectable high-risk contaminants. This plan provides details for conducting field tests during FY 2000 to accomplish these objectives. Details of additional testing during FY 2001 and FY 2002 will be developed as part of the work planning process implemented by the Integration Project.

Rapid Migration of Radionuclides Leaked from High-Level Waste Tanks: A Study of Salinity Gradients, Wetted Path Geometry, and Water Vapor Transport

This study combines laboratory, field, and numerical experiments with the following objectives: to investigate the effect of elevated surface tension, density, and viscosity of highly saline fluids on soil water-retention properties, wetting front instability, the formation and persistence of fingers, and contaminant mobility to investigate the conditions under which osmotically driven vapor flux is operative and quantify its impact on plume transport to develop and incorporate a theory describing these processes into an existing DOE-developed, numerical simulator to allow prediction of contaminant migration at realistic spatial and temporal scales. The product will be a tool that DOE can use to perform more realistic analyses to predict fate and transport of high ionic-strength contaminants, evaluate different tank waste retrieval strategies and their impact on the vadose zone, and assess the associated health risks.

Rapid Migration of Radionuclides Leaked from High-Level Water Tanks; A Study of Salinity Gradients, Wetted Path Geometry and Water Vapor Transport

The basis of this study was the hypothesis that the physical and chemical properties of hypersaline tank waste could lead to wetting from instability and fingered flow following a tank leak. Thus, the goal of this project was to develop an understanding of the impacts of the properties of hypersaline fluids on transport through the unsaturated zone beneath Hanfords Tank Farms. There were three specific objectives (i) to develop an improved conceptualization of hypersaline fluid transport in laboratory (ii) to identify the degree to which field conditions mimic the flow processes observed in the laboratory and (iii) to provide a validation data set to establish the degree to which the conceptual models, embodied in a numerical simulator, could explain the observed field behavior. As hypothesized, high ionic strength solutions entering homogeneous pre-wetted porous media formed unstable wetting fronts atypical of low ionic strength infiltration. In the field, this mechanism could for ce flow in vertical flow paths, 5-15 cm in width, bypassing much of the media and leading to waste penetration to greater depths than would be predicted by current conceptual models. Preferential flow may lead to highly accelerated transport through large homogeneous units, and must be included in any conservative analysis of tank waste losses through coarse-textured units. However, numerical description of fingered flow using current techniques has been unreliable, thereby precluding tank-scale 3-D simulation of these processes. A new approach based on nonzero, hysteretic contract angles and fluid-dependent liquid entry has been developed for the continuum scale modeling of fingered flow. This approach has been coupled with and adaptive-grid finite-difference solver to permit the prediction of finger formation and persistence form sub centimeter scales to the filed scale using both scalar and vector processors. Although laboratory experiments demonstrated that elevated surface tens ion of imbibing solutions can enhance vertical fingered flow, this phenomenon was not observed in the field. Field tests showed that the fingered flow behavior was overwhelmed by the variability in texture resulting from differences in the depositional environment. Field plumes were characterized by lateral spreading with an average width to depth aspect ratio of 4. For both vertical fingers and lateral flow, the high ionic strength contributed to the vapor phase dilution of the waste, which increased waste volume and pushed the wetting from well beyond what would have occurred if the volume of material had remained unchanged from that initially released into the system. It was also observed that following significant vapor-phase dilution of this waste simulants that streams of colloids were ejected from the sediment surfaces. It was shown that due to the high-sodium content of the tank wastes the colloids were deflocculated below a critical salt concentration in Hanford sediments. Th e released colloids, which at the site would be expected to carry the bulk of the sorbed heavy metals and radioisotopes, were mobile though coarse Hanford sediments, but clogged finer layers. The developments resulting from this study are already being applied at Hanford in the nonisothermal prediction of the hypersaline, high pH waste migration in tank farms and in the development of inverse methods for history matching under DOEs Groundwater/Vadose Zone Integration Project at Hanford.