Monitor Groundwater
As regulatory requirements for monitoring increased in the 1980s, there began to be some overlap
between various programs. DOE established a centralized Groundwater
Performance Assessment Project in 1996 to assure protection of the public and the environment
while improving the efficiency of monitoring activities. The project addresses all groundwater
monitoring needs at the site, eliminates program redundancy, and allows for more cost-effective
groundwater monitoring activities.
|
DOE has monitored groundwater on the Hanford Site since the 1940s to help determine
what chemical and radiological contaminants have made their way to groundwater and how
they have migrated in groundwater.
|
The Groundwater Performance Assessment Project provides groundwater monitoring,
assessment, and reporting to meet the requirements of RCRA, CERCLA, and
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as implemented by DOE Orders. The Groundwater
Remediation Project provides the groundwater monitoring, assessment, and
reporting for groundwater operable units where active groundwater remediation
is ongoing. The program provides an integrated, site-wide assessment of
groundwater quality and identifies any impact from waste-disposal facilities
operated by DOE and its contractors.
Both the unconfined and upper-confined aquifers are monitored and data are maintained and
managed in a centralized database. Monitoring well locations, frequencies, and analytical
constituents are documented each year. Sampling and analysis is coordinated among all data
users, and results are evaluated to describe the areal extent and temporal trends of
contamination. Results and conclusions are reported in a quarterly electronic report for
RCRA facilities and are described in detail in an annual groundwater monitoring report for
the entire site that meets all objectives and regulatory requirements.
"Once contamination is detected, monitoring and related activities are undertaken to
assess the nature and extent of groundwater contamination so that appropriate action
can be taken."
-C3T Groundwater Strategy
|
Water-level monitoring is performed to characterize groundwater flow and to determine the
impact of Hanford Site operations on the flow system. The unconfined aquifer has been
characterized in the past to construct and update a three-dimensional conceptual model for
the unconfined aquifer. This conceptual model forms the basis for a numerical flow and
transport model that has been constructed and used to predict the impact of site operations
on groundwater flow and groundwater quality. These predictions are used to assess the potential
impact and offsite migration.
|
Groundwater monitoring remains a part of the Hanford Site baseline throughout the
cleanup mission and will remain a component of long-term stewardship after remediation
is completed.
|
One aspect of the groundwater monitoring program included in the performance management plan
is the installation within 3 years of additional wells to create an integrated monitoring well
network sufficient to meet program needs. During 2002, a team of Ecology, EPA, DOE, and
contractor staff participated in a data quality objectives process to identify the additional
wells needed to adequately monitor the Central Plateau. That process identified a number of
wells that, along with those already in existence, would satisfy the regulatory requirements
of the RCRA, CERCLA, and the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Installation of 200 West Area wells
can be completed by October 2003, 200 East Area wells by October 2004, and other needed wells
in the Central Plateau by October 2005.
The current Hanford Site Groundwater Monitoring Report can be accessed
through the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Groundwater
Performance Assessment Project website.
|
