Hanford 100 Area Cleanup: CRESP Review of Contaminant Transport, Exposure, Dose and Effects Models Used in Cleanup Verification Packages to Support Records of Decision for Two Waste Sites. W. C. Griffith, C. Drew, K. McCarthy, J. Abbotts, and E. Faustman, CRESP-UW
Environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford facility in Washington state has progressed to the point where Cleanup Verification Packages for support of Records of Decision are being prepared to document how these efforts have fulfill goals agreed to by DOE, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Washington Department of Ecology. These packages are intended to be sufficiently complete to support future decisions regarding the adequacy of the cleanup of soils. Each package covers only the soils at a relatively small area, usually associated with a single waste site, and there will eventually be hundreds of these packages for waste sites associated with the nuclear reactors along the Columbia River at Hanford. An evaluation of contaminant transport models (e.g. RESRAD), dose calculations and risk estimates in these packages was made by the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP) with input by representatives from tribal nations, DOE, EPA, state regulatory agencies, and citizen groups. The models used to develop the packages are an important part in deciding whether the cleanup was successful, since many contaminants are left in the soil below a depth of 15 feet. The models are used to estimate the concentrations of these contaminants left that might migrate to the groundwater over 1000 years. Other issues addressed in the evaluation are the adequacy of the sampling scheme used to determine contaminant levels, and the impact of assumptions made about future life styles of receptors, and policy concerns about the level of risk used as a cleanup goal (see talk by K. McCarthy for a general evaluation of these packages).
This research was supported by the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP) by the Department of Energy Cooperative Agreement #DE-FC01-95EW55084. This support is not an endorsement by DOE of the views expressed.
Go to . . .
2000 SRA Annual Meeting Table of Contents
2000 SRA Annual Meeting Author Index
Main Abstracts Menu Page
RiskWorld Home Page