Since the last issue of cleanupdate in December 1998, Brookhaven National Laboratory has made significant progress on its environmental cleanup program. Soil and groundwater cleanup actions have removed both radiological and chemical contaminants from the environment. The most recent cleanup successes are detailed below.
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| The excavation of radiologically contaminated soils from the Building 830 area. Following the excavation, the area was filled in with clean soil. | |
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| One of the drill rigs being used to install the off-site groundwater treatment wells. |
Soil cleanup
On February 18, BNL's Environmental Restoration Division completed the excavation of two 1,000-gallon underground storage tanks and 370 cubic yards of radiologically contaminated soils. This excavation, detailed in the Action Memorandum: Building 830 Underground Storage Tanks Removal Action, protects the groundwater and the environment by removing a source of radiological contamination. The excavation took place at Building 830 near the center of the Lab's 5,300-acre site. Backfilling of the excavated area, which occupied about a tenth of an acre, was completed on March 22.
Groundwater cleanup
Over 80,000 gallons of groundwater contaminated by an industrial solvent called carbon tetrachloride were treated during a removal action beginning on January 14. This cleanup, detailed in the Action Memorandum: Carbon Tetrachloride Tank Groundwater Removal Action, prevents groundwater migration from this area and provides treatment of the contaminated groundwater. The water was pumped from a monitoring well at the southwest-central portion of the Lab over the course of two weeks and filtered, removing 61 pounds of the solvent. Additional treatment is planned following the installation of a new pump-and-treat system, scheduled to take place during the summer of 1999. Water will be pumped from the aquifer and treated with carbon filters to remove the carbon tetrachloride.
In November of 1998, Brookhaven began constructing seven groundwater treatment wells in an industrial park south of the Lab. These wells will use an innovative technology called in-well air stripping, which treats extracted groundwater within the well to remove chemical contaminants.
The installation of these wells and associated systems is expected to be complete by July 1. This groundwater treatment system is scheduled to start operating this summer. Additional treatment systems will be constructed south of the Lab after final approval of the Operable Unit III Record of Decision.
One existing groundwater treatment system located at BNL's southern boundary has removed over 800 pounds of chemicals from nearly 600 million gallons of groundwater since it began operating in June 1997. The clean water was returned to the ground at a basin near the center of the BNL site. Construction of an additional well just east of the other wells is planned in June of this year. This new well will capture the industrial solvent contamination in that area and ensure that those contaminants do not move beyond the Lab's southern boundary. Three additional systems on Brookhaven property have removed over 200 pounds of chemicals from over 800 million gallons of groundwater.
Future activities
The next focus of cleanup activities will be the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR), which was in use between 1950 and 1969. Preliminary decontamination of the BGRR was completed in 1972. Complete decommissioning of this facility is now being aggressively pursued. More information about this project and the associated schedules will be provided in upcoming months.