Innovative subsurface stabilization project -- Final Report

This is a report of results of applying four innovative grouting materials and one commercially available material for creating monoliths out of buried waste sites using jet grouting. The four innovative materials included a proprietary water-based epoxy, an Idaho National Engineering Laboratory-developed two-component grout that resembles hematite when cured with soil, molten low-temperature paraffin, and a proprietary iron oxide cement-based grout called TECT. The commercial grout was Type-H high-sulfate-resistant cement. These materials were tested in specially designed cold test pits that simulate buried transuranic waste at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. In addition to the grouting studies, specially designed field-scale permeameters were constructed to perform full-scale controlled mass balance hydraulic conductivity studies. An ungrouted field-scale permeameter contained simulated buried waste and soil and was left ungrouted, and a second identical field-scale permeameter was grouted with commercial-grade Type-H cement. The field demonstrations were performed in an area referred to as the Cold Test Pit at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The Cold Test Pit is adjacent to the laboratory`s Radioactive Waste Management Complex. At the complex, 2 million ft{sup 3} of transuranic waste is commingled with 6--8 million ft{sup 3} of soil in shallow land burial, and improving the confinement of this waste is one of the options for final waste disposition. This report gives results of grouting, coring, hydraulic conductivity, and destructive examination of the grouted buried waste matrix