The U.S. Department of Energy, with concurrence from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology, has issued an engineering evaluation/cost analysis (EE/CA) to evaluate approaches for the extraction of perched water from the central part of the Hanford site, known as  the Central Plateau. This perched water is located in the deep vadose zone of the 200 East Area north of B tank farm.

A small-scale treatability test to remove uranium, technetium-99, and nitrate has been successful and a long-term cleanup action is needed to continue addressing these contaminants before they migrate downward to Hanford’s groundwater.  This EE/CA identifies the proposed alternatives and analyzes them for effectiveness, implementability, and cost under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).  The cleanup decision made based on this EE/CA will be implemented as a non-time-critical removal action (NTCRA).  The information in this EE/CA and results from implementing the selected removal action also will be used to support the 200-BP-5 Operable Unit and 200-DV-1 Operable Unit remedial investigations.

You can provide your input during a 30-day public comment period, which will run from February 3 -March 3, 2014.  After the public comment period, a written response to significant comments will be provided in the Administrative Record for Hanford. The EE/CA is titled Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis for Perched Water Pumping/Pore Water Extraction and is available at: http://pdw.hanford.gov/arpir/index.cfm/docDetail?accession=0086598

 Further information can be found in the attached FACT SHEET.

Comments should be submitted by March 3, 2014, to:

Kim Ballinger
U.S. Department of Energy
Richland Operations Office
P.O. Box 550, A7-75
Richland, WA 99352
Email: Kimberly.ballinger@rl.doe.gov