Model assessment of protective barriers: Part 3

Abstract

Radioactive waste exists at the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Hanford Site in a variety of locations, including subsurface grout and tank farms, solid waste burial grounds, and contaminated soil sites. Some of these waste sites may need to be isolated from percolating water to minimize the potential for transport of the waste to the ground water, which eventually discharges to the Columbia River. Multilayer protective barriers have been proposed as a means of limiting the flow of water through the waste sites (DOE 1987). A multiyear research program (managed jointly by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and Westinghouse Hanford Company for the DOE) is aimed at assessing the performance of these barriers. One aspect of this program involves the use of computer models to predict barrier performance. Three modeling studies have already been conducted and a test plan was produced. The simulation work reported here was conducted by PNL and extends the previous modeling work. The purpose of this report are to understand phenomena that have been observed in the field and to provide information that can be used to improve hydrologic modeling of the protective barrier. An improved modeling capability results in better estimates of barrier performance. Better estimatesmore » can be used to improve the design of barriers and the assessment of their long-term performance.« less