Identifying the sources of subsurface uranium contamination at the hanford site, washington

John N. Christensen, P. Evan Dresel, Mark Conrad, Kate Maher, and Donald J. DePaolo

Contact: John N. Christensen, 510/486-6735, JNChristensen@lbl.gov

Research Objectives
In the mid-1990s, a groundwater plume of uranium (U) and other contaminants was recognized in monitoring wells in the B-BX-BY Waste Management Area (WMA) at the Hanford Site in Washington. This area had been used since the late 1940s to store high-level radioactive waste and other products of U fuel-rod processing. Consequently, within a small area there are a number of potential sources for contamination. Some records exist of inadvertent waste spills, and several locations of vadose zone contamination had been identified. Two of these plumes were cored in an effort to understand the extent and nature of the contamination. However, the pattern of U concentration in these cores did not fully resolve the source issue. We undertook a study of the variation in U isotopic composition within the vadose zone and groundwater U plumes to better understand the source and history of contamination, as well as its transport in the subsurface.

To continue reading more about this project, view the 1-page pdf here.