US EPA

3785975 

Technical Report 

Development of a Geochemical Model for Uranium Transport in the Unsaturated and Saturated Sediments at the 200 West Area of the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site, Washington (MSE, ECCP-41) 

Adams, SC; Petersen, SW 

2004 

NTIS/12010075 

GRA and I 

GRA and I 

MSE Technology Applications, Inc., (MSE) is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters (DOE-HQ) under FWP-HQ-LMT-02 to contribute to fulfilling needs identified by the Hanford Science and Technology Coordination Group (STCG). MSE focused the efforts ofthe work in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site where a plume of uranium exists in the 200-UP-l Groundwater Operable Unit. The objective of this project was to develop a conceptual model of uranium mobility that is controlled first by sorption processes in the unsaturated and saturated soils associated with the 216-Ul/u2 Cribs in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site. The primary task associated with this project was the geochemical modeling effort and it was the goal of this modeling effort to produce an acceptable correlation between predicted and observed concentrations of uranium in the groundwater. The distribution of contaminants such as uranium in the soil profile depends on the physical properties of the waste stream, which provides the transport medium (i.e., water), and the chemical properties of the contaminant, which affect contaminant-soil interactions. Other characteristics affecting the contaminant soil interaction include the geologic and geochemical properties of the soil column and the composition of soil moisture and soil gases.