SRS Geology/Hydrogeology Environmental Information Document

Denham, Miles

doi:10.2172/10526

Cited by 7 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The clastic sedimentary rocks fill the Dunbarton Basin in the basement, which is interpreted to be an asymmetric rift basin with the greater displacement having occurred along the Pen Branch normal fault. The thickness of clastic sedimentary fill in this rift graben has been estimated to be between 1,700 and 3,700 m (Denham 1995). The locations of major faults in the SRS basement rocks have been confirmed by seismic reflection interpretation (Cumbest et al 1998).…”

Section: Field Test Site Evaluation At the Savannah River Sitementioning

confidence: 70%

“…The basement unconformity dips to the southeast in a fairly uniform fashion in this area and the depth to the basement is less than 500 m at the SRS. Overlying unconsolidated and semiconsolidated sediments are Cretaceous to Tertiary in age and were deposited in diverse fluvial, deltaic, and marine shelf environments (Denham 1995). Topographic relief is generally low, but the isolation of basement rocks from vertical groundwater circulation is unclear.…”

Section: Field Test Site Evaluation At the Savannah River Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lower grade mafic metamorphic rocks are separated from the higher grade gneisses by a northeast-southwest striking fault. Triassic age clastic sedimentary rocks consisting of coarse grained alluvial fan facies near the Pen Branch Fault (see Figure 2-19) transitioning to finer grained sediments to the southeast (Denham 1995) occur in the southeastern part of the SRS. The clastic sedimentary rocks fill the Dunbarton Basin in the basement, which is interpreted to be an asymmetric rift basin with the greater displacement having occurred along the Pen Branch normal fault.…”

Section: Field Test Site Evaluation At the Savannah River Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Deep Borehole Disposal Research: Geological Data Evaluation Alternative Waste Forms and Borehole Seals

Arnold¹,

Brady²,

Sutton³

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Field Test Site Evaluation At the Savannah River Sitementioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Field Test Site Evaluation At the Savannah River Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Field Test Site Evaluation At the Savannah River Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Deep Borehole Disposal Research: Geological Data Evaluation Alternative Waste Forms and Borehole Seals

Arnold¹,

Brady²,

Sutton³

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The two aquifer systems of importance to the E-Area are the Upper Three Runs and underlying Gordon aquifer units (Mamatey, 2006;WSRC, 2008). The Upper Three Runs Aquifer Unit and can be divided into three hydrostratigraphic zones with a total thickness of 40 m: an upper aquifer zone that includes the vadose zone, an intermittent confining layer called the "Tan Clay Confining Zone," and a lower aquifer zone (Aadland et al, 1995;Denham, 1999;Mamatey, 2006;WSRC, 2008). Within the vadose zone there is an upper and lower section, each (2007) Tables 4 and 5: Kaplan and Serne (2000) Tables 3 to 20: Shott et al (1998) 9-m-thick Gordon confining unit and 23 m Gordon Aquifer.…”

Section: Savannah River E-areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of LLW Disposal Facilities at Major Department of Energy Sites

Rustick

Kosson²,

Krahn³

et al. 2015

Remediation Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Near surface disposal facility design and management are examined and compared using a systems approach that defines facility performance as a function of three components (or subsystems): the disposal facility design (cover systems and bottom liners); the properties of the waste (waste composition, waste form and waste package); and the site-specific environmental features (climate, geology, and hydrology). We report an evaluation of five DOE near surface disposal facility case studies, selected to provide a "representative" sample that included disposal sites with a range of waste and environmental characteristics across the DOE. The facilities selected were the Savannah River E-Area Engineered Trenches, Hanford Integrated Disposal Facility, Idaho Radioactive Waste Management Complex, Oak Ridge Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, and Nevada National Security Site Area 5. c⃝ 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

show abstract

“…The upper water table has an average depth about 20 m below the soil surface. The shallow unconfined aquifer has an average thickness of about 10 m within the Irwinton Sand member of the Eocene Dry Branch Formation (Denham, 1995), with measured hydraulic conductivities ranging from 0.1 to 10 m d −1 (Killian et al, 1987). Underlying this upper aquifer is the thin (2.5‐m average thickness [Killian et al, 1987]), lower permeability Tan Clay (Twiggs Clay, also a member of the Dry Branch Formation).…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimates of Vadose Zone Drainage from a Capped Seepage Basin, F‐Area, Savannah River Site

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Waste disposal into seepage basins has generated groundwater contaminant plumes at many loca ons. At the F Area within the Savannah River Site, Pu was extracted from depleted U from 1955 to 1988, with wastewater discharged into seepage basins. Basin 3 was the largest F-Area seepage basin, receiving acidic wastewater containing radionuclides (including 3 H, 129 I, and mul ple isotopes of U, Pu, Sr, and Cs), elevated NO 3 , and some metals. Contaminants transported into the groundwater migrate toward Fourmile Branch, a tributary to the Savannah River. We developed a two-compartment model and used 20 yr of groundwater quality data to es mate the post-closure drainage of waste solu ons through its vadose zone into the aquifer. Tri um, NO 3 − , and specifi c conductance were used as tracers in the model to es mate drainage rates. Our calcula ons indicate that early stages of post-closure waste drainage occurred with high water fl uxes (?0.5 m yr −1 ) and quickly declined. Even 20 yr a er basin closure, however, drainage con nues at several cen meters per year. While the magnitude of this late-stage drainage rate is low, its impact is large because of the high concentra ons of contaminants it con nues to supply to the groundwater. These es mated drainage fl uxes constrain predic ons on the waste plume behavior, especially with respect to its trailing gradient and me scales suitable for monitored natural a enua on. Our methodology requires only groundwater monitoring data and a small number of well-constrained input quan es. This approach can be useful for understanding contaminant dissipa on at other loca ons as well, especially where the hydrogeological se ng is rela vely simple.Abbrevia ons: EC, electrical conduc vity; MCL, maximum contaminant level.Many mining and ore milling sites and nuclear weapons production facilities have used large volumes of water and consequently require discharge of similarly large volumes of contaminated wastewater. In the case of ore milling, mill tailings were commonly discharged over large areas in slurry form, with waste solutions draining into underlying sediments and groundwater (Fernandas et al., 1995;Narasimhan et al., 1986). Past practices used for disposal of some contaminated water at nuclear weapons production facilities included discharge into soil, the vadose zone, and underlying groundwater via permeable seepage basins (Arai et al., 2007;Denham and Vangelas, 2008;Kaplan et al., 1995;Shevenell et al., 1994). Whether groundwater at these sites is actively remediated to accelerate removal of contaminants or untreated and subjected to monitored natural attenuation, it is important to determine the timescale during which contaminant concentrations in the trailing plume edge diminish below their regulatory levels (Denham and Vangelas, 2008). A key factor controlling the dynamics of the trailing plume edge is the time frame for cessation of drainage from the contaminated vadose zone. h is time frame has two limiting conditions, depending on whether the upper boundary of the contam...

show abstract

SRS Geology/Hydrogeology Environmental Information Document

Cited by 7 publications

References 60 publications

Deep Borehole Disposal Research: Geological Data Evaluation Alternative Waste Forms and Borehole Seals

Deep Borehole Disposal Research: Geological Data Evaluation Alternative Waste Forms and Borehole Seals

Comparison of LLW Disposal Facilities at Major Department of Energy Sites

Estimates of Vadose Zone Drainage from a Capped Seepage Basin, F‐Area, Savannah River Site

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About