Groundwater Flow and Transport Calculations Supporting the Immobilized Low-Activity Waste Disposal Facility Performance Assessment

Abstract

This report summarizes the Hanford Site-Wide Groundwater Model and its application to the Immobilized Low-Activity Waste (ILAW) Disposal Facility Performance Assessment (PA). The site-wide model and supporting local-scale models are used to evaluate impacts from the transport of contaminants at a hypothetical well 100 m downgradient of the disposal facilities and to evaluate regional flow conditions and transport from the ILAW disposal facilities to the Columbia River. These models were used to well-intercept factors (WIFs) or dilution factors from a given areal flux of a hypothetical contaminant released to the unconfined aquifer from the ILAW disposal facilities for two waste-disposal options: (1) a remote-handled trench concept and (2) a concrete-vault concept. These WIFs are being used in conjunction with calculations of released contaminant fluxes through the vadose zone to estimate potential impacts from radiological and hazardous chemical contaminants within the ILAW disposal facility at compliance points.