Cleanup system starts up
This spring, a new groundwater removal system was installed just south of the Laboratory's High Flux Beam Reactor. Between June 26-29, the low-flow extraction system removed 4,800 gallons of tritiated water from the aquifer at a rate of about five gallons per minute.
The extracted water was pumped into a tank that was loaded onto a truck and shipped off site to a licensed disposal facility.
Tritium plume shrinking
The Laboratory installed this system as one of the provisions of the recently-approved Operable Unit III Record of Decision (see story on page 1). The system extracts water from the aquifer very slowly. The slow extraction removes the water containing the highest levels of tritium with minimal dilution. This reduces the amount of water that must be disposed of, thereby reducing cleanup costs.
Groundwater monitoring over the past three years shows that the tritium plume has shrunk. This reduction will continue due to dispersion and radioactive decay. The low-flow system will enhance this process by ensuring that the highest levels will not migrate further, allowing the plume to continue dissipating.
More pumping planned
The Laboratory, in cooperation with the Department of Energy and regulators, will evaluate the system's efficiency and will continue to implement low-flow pumping as necessary. It is likely that more wells will be added and that additional pumping will take place.
A second extraction system is planned for installation on Temple Place, one block south of the first system. The Temple Place system is still being designed.
Current groundwater monitoring data indicates that, even without these two systems, tritium will not reach the site boundary at levels above the drinking water standard. These systems provide further assurance of meeting cleanup goals, which include protection of the public's health and timely cleanup of the aquifer.
The survey says ...
Overall, cleanupdate readers are happy with this publication, according to a survey sent to 500 households on our mailing list in June. Respondents also gave some good suggestions for changes.
Many acknowledged our cleanup efforts, but voiced concern about how we have changed our operations to keep things clean. The Department of Energy and the Laboratory take pollution prevention very seriously. For just one example, see "Groundwater protection a priority" on page 6. We will include similar articles in future editions.
Most replies indicated that readers are satisfied with the quarterly publication schedule and article length and technicality. Some would prefer we use less technical language. We do strive to refrain from using "jargon" that makes articles more difficult to read, and will continue to work in that direction.
Readers also suggested using more photos and providing better summaries so they can get the information they need without reading entire articles. We will implement both of these suggestions.
Respondents requested more information on groundwater, the Peconic River, and air quality. We will continue to feature these topics in future issues.
We thank everyone who took the time to reply, and encourage anyone who has questions or comments on cleanupdate to contact the people listed below.
Division implements standard
This fall, the Environmental Restoration Division (ERD) expects to achieve registration under the international environmental standard known as ISO 14001. Last fall, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider Project became the first Office of Science and first Long Island-based organization to obtain third-party registration to the ISO 14001 standard.
Registering under ISO 14001 demonstrates ERD's commitment to protecting the environment. It is also an important step toward the goal of registering the entire Laboratory to this standard by the end of 2001.
Look for an update in our next issue.