Mound-ACT*DE*CON{sup SM} feasibility study. Phase 2: Final report

A portion of the abandoned Miami-Erie Canal paralleling the Greater Miami River receives the runoff and storm-water discharge from Mound Laboratory. In 1969, a low-level plutonium leak contaminated sediment as far away as 1.5 mi from the Mound site along the old canal system. An estimated one million cubic feet of sediment requires remediation. The technology being evaluated for the remediation of the low-level plutonium-238 contamination of the sediment involves two processes: washing the sediments with ACT*DE*CON{sup SM} solution to dissolve the contaminant, followed by extraction of the solution and processing with the MAG*SEP{sup SM} process to concentrate the contaminant and allow reuse of the ACT*DE*CON{sup SM} solution. The processes are being optimized for pilot-scale and field demonstration. Phase 2 of the project primarily involved identification at the laboratory scale of the optimal ACT*DE*CON{sup SM} formulation, identification of the ion-exchanger and MAG*SEP{sup SM} particles, verification of the plutonium mobility in the treated soil, and evaluation of other process parameters according to a series of tasks