Evaluation of the ground-water contaminant plume extending from the 183-H Solar Evaporation Basins

TL;DRAbstract

The 183-H Solar Evaporation Basins, located on the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State, were used for solar concentration and storage of process wastes that consisted of nitric, sulfuric, and hydrofluoric acids, contaminated by heavy metals and radionuclides, and neutralized by sodium hydroxide. By 1977, it was apparent that leakage from the basins had reached the unconfined aquifer, causing elevated ground-water concentrations of nitrate, chromium, technetium-99, and uranium. The resulting plume is superimposed on a larger, pre-existing plume from upgradient sources that is characterized by the same contaminants, but with different relative concentrations. The plumes discharge into the Columbia River, 210 m from the basins. This study examines the relative concentration ratios of the contaminants, determines which wells in the monitoring network surrounding the basins have been affected by basin leakage, assigns reasonable plume boundaries, and shows the separate contributio

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