Groundwater at the Hanford Site
In general, groundwater is a supply of fresh water found in layers beneath the earth's surface.
Because groundwater can be a source of drinking water, contamination is a concern. Contamination can
occur from agricultural and industrial activities. At Hanford, past industrial activities have impacted
the groundwater.
Fifty years of nuclear weapons production resulted in approximately 1.7
trillion liters (450 billion gallons) of liquid waste being released to
the ground at the Hanford Site. Some of the associated contaminants have
reached the groundwater. Hazardous chemical contaminants include carbon
tetrachloride, chromium, and nitrates. Radioactive contaminants include
iodine-129, strontium-90, technetium-99, tritium, and uranium. Commonly
sought
Hanford Environmental Information
System (HEIS) well-monitoring data,
tracking contaminants from about 1950 to the present, can be accessed via a
user-friendly web-based tool.
Currently, about 14% or 207 square kilometers (80 square miles) of the Hanford Site has groundwater contaminant
levels greater than drinking water standards. This is down from 17.5% just a few years ago.
Hanford groundwater is not a source of drinking water and does not affect offsite drinking water sources,
such as the Columbia River and municipal and private wells. There are, however, possible near shore
impacts where Hanford groundwater flows into the Columbia River.
The Groundwater Remediation Project
The U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Washington State Department
of Ecology have developed a remediation plan for protecting the Columbia River Corridor. The Groundwater Remediation Project is largely responsible for ensuring the plan is implemented.
Waste Disposal/Groundwater Remediation Project contractor
Fluor Hanford manages the Groundwater Remediation Project for the U.S. Department
of Energy. The program's primary goals are to aggressively clean up groundwater
contaminants, avoid future groundwater contamination, and prevent groundwater
contaminants from migrating to the Columbia River. Accelerated cleanup is
designed to return groundwater to beneficial use, where possible, or at
least prevent further degradation.
Key Functional Areas
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Groundwater Remediation
Project Mission:
 To protect the Columbia River from contaminated groundwater
resulting from past, present, and future operations at the
Hanford Site and to protect and restore groundwater.
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The Groundwater Remediation Project is focused on the following five functional areas and will:
Remediate High-Risk Waste Sites - Clean up waste sites that pose the highest
risk to groundwater Shrink the Contaminated Area - Reduce the contaminated surface area, so as
many areas as possible will no longer pose a threat to groundwater Reduce Recharge - Reduce the transport of contaminants to groundwater from
water released onto the soil Remediate Groundwater - Complete remedial actions at pump-and-treat
sites Monitor Groundwater - Determine the groundwater monitoring needs for
long-term stewardship of the Central Plateau and evaluate new technologies that may be more
effective
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