Workers install equipment in preparation for another grout pour at the Old Radioactive Waste Burial Ground solvent tank closure project.
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Soil
& Groundwater Closure Projects
(formerly
Environmental Restoration)
The Savannah River Site’s Soil and Groundwater Closure Projects (SGCP) is responsible for waste site and groundwater remediation. In its efforts to remediate waste sites and groundwater units, thereby reducing risks to the environment, SGCP approaches environmental restoration by utilizing effective project management, effective communications, and strong working relationships with regulatory agencies by deploying numerous innovative technologies to expedite the cleanup process for the Department of Energy.
The Soil and Groundwater Closure Projects (SGCP) (formerly Environmental Restoration) completed several key initiatives to accelerate the cleanup schedule. Integrated with Site D&D, SGCP embraced an area closure concept that deploys innovative technologies to achieve program completion 14 years sooner than previously planned.
The mobile Soil Vapor Extraction Unit removes solvents from subsurface soils. |
While using innovative technologies has always been a cornerstone of SGCP's success, area closures became an integral part of the closure plan when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control signed a Memorandum of Agreement supporting the concept.
From capping waste sites to installing more efficient groundwater treatment units,
SGCP keeps field work as a top priority. SGCP has pioneered the use of numerous ground-breaking technologies to increase the effectiveness of its remediation efforts and to reduce risk. These technologies range from solvent cleanup methods to waste site capping and sealing approaches. Traditional kaolin clay caps, previously used as a protective cover over large landfills, have been replaced with a new geosynthetic cap closure technology. The geosynthetic cap is very effective in preventing rainwater infiltration and is more cost effective as well.
The installation of a steam line was completed during the early phases of the Dynamic Underground Stripping construction schedule. DUS will use SRS-generated steam to remove dense solvents from subsurface soils and groundwater.
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SGCP
also employs a variety of natural remedies such as phytoremediation
(using natural vegetative processes), bioremediation (using
naturally occurring microbes), and monitored natural remediation
(establishing a groundwater mixing zone). These technologies
are proving to be a cost-efficient means of reducing risk.
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