Open AccessVandose Zone Characterization Project at the Hanford Tank Farms: SX Tank Farm Report
Author(s) -
Jean Brodeur,
C.J. Koizumi,
J.F. Bertsch
Publication year - 1996
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/437723
Subject(s) - hanford site , vadose zone , borehole , radioactive waste , environmental science , savannah river site , underground storage tank , waste management , hydrology (agriculture) , contamination , gallon (us) , storage tank , baseline (sea) , geology , engineering , geotechnical engineering , soil water , ecology , oceanography , soil science , biology
The SX Tank Farm is located in the southwest portion of the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site. This tank farm consists of 15 single-shell tanks (SSTs), each with an individual capacity of 1 million gallons (gal). These tanks currently store high-level nuclear waste that was primarily generated from what was called the oxidation-reduction or {open_quotes}REDOX{close_quotes} process at the S-Plant facility. Ten of the 15 tanks are listed in Hanlon as {open_quotes}assumed leakers{close_quotes} and are known to have leaked various amounts of high-level radioactive liquid to the vadose zone sediment. The current liquid content of each tank varies, but the liquid from known leaking tanks has been removed to the extent possible. In 1994, the U.S. Department of Energy Richland Office (DOE-RL) requested the DOE Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO), Grand Junction, Colorado, to perform a baseline characterization of contamination in the vadose zone at all the SST farms with spectral gamma-ray logging of boreholes surrounding the tanks. The SX Tank Farm geophysical logging was completed, and the results of this baseline characterization are presented in this report