ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATION HANFORD GROUT LYSIMETER FACILITY

The Hanford Grout Lysimeter Facility (HGLF) will be constructed to test the leaching and migration of radioactive and nonradioactive tracers embedded in a solidification agent (grout) under actual burial conditions in Hanford soil. Three different water treatment rates will be used: natural precipitation, 4 times and 8 times natural precipitation. Six lysimeters will be assembled. Each unit will measure 6 feet in diameter, 25 feet deep. Their construction and instrumentation will be performed during June-July, 1984 by J. A. Jones Construction Company and/or their subcontractor. The routine monitoring will be performed by Battelle staff over a 5.5 year period beginning in November 1984. The total estimated project cost will be approximately $200,000. The only anticipated environmental impact from this project will be a temporary nuisance-type local dust problem during the construction phase. This will not be a detriment to the environment. The results of dose calculations indicate that dose rates from the grouted waste cans will be quite low when the cans are covered by a meter or more of earth. Dose rates at or near the surface of the individual cans are not high enough to preclude their handling. The facility area will be fenced, posted as a radiation zone and operated under a radiation work procedure