Transfer of Physical and Hydraulic Properties Databases to the Hanford Environmental Information System - PNNL Remediation Decision Support Project, Task 1, Activity 6

Abstract

This report documents the requirements for transferring physical and hydraulic property data compiled by PNNL into the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS). The Remediation Decision Support (RDS) Project is managed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to support Hanford Site waste management and remedial action decisions by the U.S. Department of Energy and one of their current site contractors - CH2M-Hill Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC). The objective of Task 1, Activity 6 of the RDS project is to compile all available physical and hydraulic property data for sediments from the Hanford Site, to port these data into the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS), and to make the data web-accessible to anyone on the Hanford Local Area Network via the so-called Virtual Library.1 These physical and hydraulic property data are used to estimate parameters for analytical and numerical flow and transport models that are used for site risk assessments and evaluation of remedial action alternatives. In past years efforts were made by RDS project staff to compile all available physical and hydraulic property data for Hanford sediments and to transfer these data into SoilVision{reg_sign}, a commercial geotechnical software package designed for storing, analyzing, and manipulating soils data. Although SoilVision{reg_sign} has proven to be useful, its access and use restrictions have been recognized as a limitation to the effective use of the physical and hydraulic property databases by the broader group of potential users involved in Hanford waste site issues. In order to make these data more widely available and useable, a decision was made to port them to HEIS and to make them web-accessible via a Virtual Library module. In FY08 the original objectives of this activity on the RDS project were to: (1) ensure traceability and defensibility of all physical and hydraulic property data currently residing in the SoilVision{reg_sign} database maintained by PNNL, (2) transfer the physical and hydraulic property data from the Microsoft Access database files used by SoilVision{reg_sign} into HEIS, which is currently being maintained by CHRPC, (3) develop a Virtual Library module for accessing these data from HEIS, and (4) write a User's Manual for the Virtual Library module. The intent of these activities is to make the available physical and hydraulic property data more readily accessible and useable by technical staff and operable unit managers involved in waste site assessments and remedial action decisions for Hanford. In FY08 communications were established between PNNL and staff from Fluor-Hanford Co. (who formerly managed HEIS) to outline the design of a Virtual Library module that could be used to access the physical and hydraulic property data that are to be transferred into HEIS. Data dictionaries used by SoilVision{reg_sign} were also provided to Fluor-Hanford personnel (who are now with CHPRC). During ongoing work to ensure traceability and defensibility of all physical and hydraulic property data that currently reside in the SoilVision{reg_sign} database, it was recognized that further work would be required in this effort before the data were actually ported into HEIS. Therefore work on the Virtual Library module development and an accompanying User's Guide was deferred until an unspecified later date. In FY09 efforts have continued to verify the traceability and defensibility of the physical and hydraulic property datasets that are currently being maintained by PNNL. Although this is a work in progress, several of these datasets should be ready for transfer to HEIS in the very near future. This document outlines a plan for the migration of these datasets into HEIS.