Partial Closure Report for the Area 514 Treatment and Storage Facility

Abstract

The purpose of this partial closure report is to inform the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) of the status of final closure of the Area 514 Treatment and Storage Facility (Area 514) and fulfill the DTSC requirements to proceed with the implementation of the interim action. Area 514 is located at the Livermore main site of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). LLNL is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and operated jointly by DOE and the University of California. LLNL received its permit to operate hazardous waste facilities from DTSC in 1997. The hazardous waste treatment and storage operations of Area 514 were transferred to a newly constructed complex, the Decontamination and Waste Treatment Facility (DWTF), in 2003. Once the DWTF was operational, the final closure of Area 514 began in accordance with the DTSC-approved closure plan in June 2004. Abri Environmental Engineering, Inc., was retained by LLNL to observe the A514 closure process and prepare this partial closure report and certification. Prior to closure, the configuration of the Area 514 Treatment and Storage Facility consisted of Building 514, the Area 514-1 Container Storage and Treatment unit, the Area 514-2 Container Storage Unit (CSU), the Area 514-3 CSU, Building 513, the Wastewater Treatment Tank Farm unit, and the associated Area 514 yard area. The fenced area of Area 514 included approximately 27,350 ft2 on the LLNL Livermore site. To date, except for the 514-3 CSU, all of the other Area 514 structures have been demolished; and sampling and analysis have taken place. The non-hazardous wastes have been disposed of. At the time of writing this report, the hazardous, mixed, and low-level radioactive wastes are in the process of profiling for final disposition. Once the disposition of all wastes has been finalized, the implementation of the approved closure plan will be completed. As a part of the closure process, LLNL is required to submit a closure report and a certification by a qualified independent engineer within 60 days of closure completion. As a result of the sampling and analysis process, contamination was found at Area 514. The results for the concrete and structural samples have been used for characterization of the wastes that were generated for disposal purposes. No soils have been removed, except for the incidental removal of the soil immediately under the concrete and asphalt pavement, and the results for soil samples have been used to characterize the site and conduct fate and transport modeling. The entire LLNL Livermore site is a CERCLA site; however, the levels of soil contamination found at Area 514 are relatively low, and fate and transport modeling shows that the existing contamination will not impact ground water for hundreds of years. Consequently, LLNL has decided to leave the contamination in place. LLNL is currently conducting a comprehensive risk assessment to possibly attain a risk-based clean-closure determination. LLNL has identified paving the area with asphalt as an interim action to stabilize the site, prevent the surface contamination from becoming airborne, and minimize the movement of the contaminants in soil. This partial closure report is submitted based on DTSC's request.