What We Are Doing
Environmental Management
Environmental Management System
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has developed and is in the process of implementing the WRPS Environmental Management System (EMS). The EMS is a tool that will be used by WRPS for developing, maintaining, reviewing and improving its approach to addressing environmental issues. EMS is the structured approach which incorporates environmental considerations into day-to-day operations throughout WRPS and is designed to promote “continual environmental improvement.”
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WRPS EMS Summary |
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Technology helps map waste plume
For the first time, a fully-three-dimensional view may be possible of a plume of radioactive and chemical contaminants in the soil near an area of the Hanford Site known as C Farm. The so-called “farm” is home to more than a dozen underground storage tanks containing radioactive and chemical waste. Surface Geophysical Exploration (SGE) probes were installed on the surface around a diversion box, while four SGE sensors were placed deep in the soil.
SGE uses electricity to measure differences in soil resistance caused by changes in moisture and chemical content. Steel probes are connected to a computerized system that directs electrical impulses between them and measures differences in soil resistance. These differences are then used to provide a “map” of the plume of contaminants.
The diversion box was used to direct liquid waste from the processing plants to the tanks within the farm. In October 1969, a pipe broke, allowing about 36,000 gallons of liquid to leak into the surrounding soil. A vital element of the Hanford cleanup program is to identify such leaks in and near tank farms and map their spread so decisions can be made about the best way to clean them up to protect the public and the environment.
A total of 336 surface electrodes have been installed around the diversion box, plus two more at a depth of 50 feet and two more at a depth of 100 feet.
SGE technology has been used to map plumes in and around several Hanford tank farms, but this is the most challenging application of the technology due to the large number of buried pipes as well as other infrastructure around the diversion box that create interference in the electrical signals coming back to the computer. The use of deep buried probes should help overcome that problem by allowing electrical signals to travel under the other pipes and infrastructure.
