Draft Hanford Injury Assessment Plan Appendices
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Public Review Draft Hanford Natural Resource Injury Assessment Plan APPENDIX A | THE FOUR HANFORD NPL SITES On November 3, 1989, Hanford was added to the NPL as four separate sites: the 100 Area, 200 Area, 300 Area, and 1100 Area (see Exhibits B-1 through B-4, below).78 In order to coordinate response actions, each of these sites was further subdivided into operable units (OUs), based on geographic area or common waste sources. A total of 1,200 waste management units have been identified throughout the Hanford Site and are grouped among the four NPL sites (DOE 2006a). Cleanup efforts for the remaining Hanford Site contamination are organized into three major components: the River Corridor (including the 100 and 300 Areas), the Central Plateau (primarily the 200 Area), and tank waste. Cleanup of the Site is a particularly large and complex effort, dependent on many dozens of individual decision steps, stakeholder coordination, sustained funding, and the ability to address complex technical challenges. Full remediation of the NPL sites is expected to extend over the next 40 to 50 years; however, timelines are difficult to determine, due to the factors discussed above (DOE 2012). Additional summary information describing the four Hanford NPL sites and the current status of remediation efforts is provided below. More detailed information can be found at http://www.hanford.gov/. AREA 100 AREA DESCRIPTIONS The 100 Area contains the remnants of Hanford’s nine nuclear reactors, spread over six reactor sites (B/C, K, N, D, H, and F). The footprint covers about 26 sq. mi. of land area, 11 sq. mi. of which is contaminated (including groundwater contamination and waste disposal locations) (DOE 2011d). Much of the contamination is the result of the reactors discharging cooling water into various trenches, cribs, ponds, and other waste sites. Additional contamination sites include an array of structures such as buildings and buried pipelines, and two basins that currently store spent nuclear fuel from the reactors. The 100 Area site is divided into 22 OUs. Five OUs address groundwater contamination, and the remaining contamination is grouped geographically into 17 OUs, which encompass the Area’s 400 soil, structure, debris, or burial ground waste sites. With the exception of OUs that are designated as “isolated units” (IUs), the 100 Area OUs are associated with reactor areas (EPA 2001b). 78 Note that the areas captured within the 100, 200, 300, and 1100 designations have changed slightly over time. A-1 200 AREA Used for chemical processing and waste management, the 200 Area NPL site covers about 75 sq. mi. of land area, and consists of large amounts of radioactive, hazardous, and mixed, soil and groundwater contamination. The 200 Area, also referred to as the Central Plateau, contains about 1,000 structures, including the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), and five chemical processing facilities, called “canyon” facilities (T, B, U and S, or REDOX plant, and the Plutonium/Uranium Extraction (PUREX) plant). The approximately 700 soil waste sites, with associated structures and facilities, are divided into 23 soil OUs organized by discharge type (e.g., cooling water, solid waste) and waste site type (e.g., pond, crib, ditch). Additionally, there are four groundwater OUs, two each in the 200-East and 200-West areas. The 200 Area is split into the Inner and Outer Areas. The Inner Area will be dedicated to waste management and containment of contamination from Hanford Site cleanup actions, and will remain under Federal ownership (DOE 2011d). The Outer Area includes the areas surrounding the Inner Area in the Central Plateau. Cleanup of the Outer Area to standards similar to those being achieved in the River Corridor is expected (DOE 2011d). A key feature of the characterized waste in the 200 Area are the tank farms where highly radioactive liquid effluents are stored in single and double shelled underground tanks. There are 177 tanks, some of which have are known to have leaked (DOE 2011d). One of the double-shelled tanks is now known to be leaking, and a number of the single-shelled tanks are known or suspected to be leaking. 200 Area tank wastes remain a major clean up and remediation challenge (Abbotts and Weems 2008). Additionally, a number of trenches (associated with canyon facility operations), ponds (where cooling water was discharged in the Outer Area), and other solid waste burial grounds and pipelines are located in the 200 Area (DOE 2009). 300 AREA The 300 Area NPL site consists of a quarter-mile industrial complex, with contamination stemming from multiple unlined liquid disposal areas, burial grounds, landfills, and other miscellaneous disposal sites. The site is split into three OUs, two that address soil contamination areas (300-FF-1 and 300-FF-2), and one that addresses groundwater contamination (300-FF-5). The primary contaminant in the 300 Area is uranium from the fuel fabrication process (EPA 2001b). 1100 AREA The 1100 Area NPL site consists of two non-adjacent areas covering a total of just less than 5 sq. mi. The first area, located adjacent to the City of Richland, is split into three OUs (1100-EM-1, 1100-EM-2, and 1100-EM-3), and the second portion, located on the Arid Land Ecology (ALE) Reserve is a single OU (1100-IU-1). The portion of the site near Richland was historically used as a warehousing, vehicle maintenance, and transportation distribution center, and was known to be a dumping area for up to 15,000 gallons of waste battery acid from these operations. The site is located in close proximity to the Richland groundwater wells that supply drinking water to the City. The ALE site A-2 was a former NIKE missile base. Waste sites discovered in these OUs include the landfills, burn pits, solvent and fuel tanks, and a TCE groundwater plume (EPA 2001b). HANFORD SITE AREAS NOT LISTED Two additional numbered areas were excluded from NPL designation. The first of these, the 400 Area, contains the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), a nuclear research and test reactor. The FFTF underwent destruction and demolition and was placed under long-term surveillance and maintenance in 2009. The 600 Area is defined as all portions of the Hanford Site not included in the 100, 200, 300, 400, or 1100 Areas. All waste sites potentially falling in the 600 Area were included in one of the other four NPL sites, due to proximity or likeliness to other waste sites (DOE 2006a). In summary, over 40 years of plutonium production activity at Hanford resulted in (DOE 2011g): 586-sq.-mi. footprint requiring cleanup; 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel (stored near the Columbia River); 20 tons of leftover plutonium in the Plutonium Finishing Plant; 1.012 waste sites, 522 facilities, and nine plutonium production reactors (near the Columbia River) requiring cleanup; More than 100 sq. mi. of groundwater contaminated; 53 million gallons of waste in 177 underground tanks, 67 of which may have leaked; 15,000 cubic meters of buried or stored plutonium-contaminated waste on site; 850 waste sites and 970 facilities on the Central Plateau requiring cleanup. A-3 EXHIBIT A-1 HANFORD NPL SITE DESIGNATIONS (DOE 2011D) A-4 EXHIBIT A-2 MAP OF “SOURCE” OPERABLE UNITS IN THE 100 AREA, 300 AREA, AND 1100 AREA – HANFORD NPL SITES (DOE 2006a) A-5 EXHIBIT A-3 CENTRAL PLATEAU SOURCE OPERABLE UNITS (DOE 2011D) Note: Not all operable units are shown. Refer to Exhibit B-6, “200 Area Operable Units”, for a full list of operable units in the inner and outer areas. A-6 EXHIBIT A-4 MAP OF GROUNDWATER OPERABLE UNITS IN THE HANFORD NPL SITES (DOE 2006B) A-7 SITE After listing on the NPL, a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) is performed. ASSESSMENT The RI is a mechanism for collecting data to characterize site conditions, determine the AND nature of the waste, assess HH&E risk, and test treatment options; the FS develops, REMEDIATION screens, and evaluates alternative remedial actions. The RI/FS are conducted concurrently, each utilizing information from the other to maximize the efficiency of data collection. The RI/FS process is a five-phase approaches: 1) scoping; 2) site characterization; 3) development and screening of alternatives; 4) treatability investigations; and 5) detailed analysis (EPA 2011). From the information recorded in the RI/FS report, a Record of Decision (ROD) is generated. The ROD is a public document that explains which cleanup alternatives will be pursued. The ROD documents site history, site description, site characteristics, community participation, enforcement activities, past and present activities, contaminated media, contaminants present, scope and role of response action, and the remedy selected for cleanup. A summary of remediation status by NPL Site and OU follows. 100 AREA Closure of the 100 Area is planned based on five decision areas, encompassing boundaries beyond individual OUs and waste sites. These areas are the 100 B/C Area, 100-N Area, 100-D and H Areas, and the 100-F Area combined with 100-IU2/6. These decision areas include the entirely of the 100 Area NPL site (see Exhibit B-1) (DOE 2012, p. 29). Final RODs have not yet been issued for these decision areas. However, eight RODs for interim actions have been issued, and as of July 2011, RI/FSs were being developed in support of final RODs (DOE 2011d). Five interim RODs address soil contamination, one addresses K-Basins spent fuel removal, and two address groundwater. Multiple other CERCLA documents have been issued to address individual building demolition and cleanup of various 100 Area structures (DOE 2011d). Decision documents have been issued for 100-HR-1, 100-IU-1, 100-HR-3, K Basins (100-KR-2), 100-NR-1 and 100-NR-2, and 100-BC-1.