This document is an integrated monitoring plan for the Groundwater Monitoring Project. It documents well and constituent lists for the monitoring required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and its implementing orders.

Conceptual models have been identified as one of the sources of uncertainty in the interpretation and prediction of contaminant migration through the vadose zone at Hanford. Current conceptual models are limited partly because they often do not account for the random heterogeneity that occurs under the extremes of very nonlinear flow behavior typical of the Hanford vadose zone. Over the last two years significant progress has been made in characterizing physical heterogeneity and in the development of techniques for incorporating this heterogeneity into predictive and inverse models for field-scale subsurface flow. One of the remaining pieces of the puzzle is the impact of heterogeneity on the distribution of reactive contaminants. Reactive transport occurs over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. However, the manner in which the various subsurface physical and chemical processes interact to influence transport is not very well understood. Hydrogeologic characterization and model analysis, however, have traditionally focused on measurement of physical properties and predicting the effects of variability in these properties on flow and transport. As a result, the role of geochemical heterogeneity on solute transport has remained largely unexplored. This project will use a combination of geophysical and soil physics techniques to investigate the …

This document is a summary of the larger report, PNNL-14548. It describes the groundwater monitoring results for FY 2003 at the Hanford Site in southeast Washington State. The Hanford Site, a facility in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons complex, encompasses {approx}1,517 square kilometers northwest of the city of Richland along the Columbia River in southeast Washington State. The federal government acquired the site in 1943, and until the 1980s it was dedicated primarily to the production of plutonium for national defense and the management of resulting waste. In 1995, all unrestricted discharge of radioactive liquid waste to the ground was discontinued. Today, DOE's mission on the Hanford Site is to restore the Columbia River corridor and transition the central portion of the site toward its long-term waste management role. DOE has monitored groundwater on the Hanford Site since the 1940s to help determine what chemical and radiological contaminants have made their way into the groundwater. As regulatory requirements for monitoring increased in the 1980s, there began to be some overlap between various programs. DOE established the Groundwater Performance Assessment Project (groundwater project) in 1996 to ensure protection of the public and the environment while improving the efficiency …

This report presents the results of groundwater and vadose zone monitoring and remediation for fiscal year 2003 (October 2002 through September 2003) on the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site, Washington. The most extensive contaminant plumes in groundwater are tritium, iodine-129, and nitrate, which all had multiple sources and are very mobile in groundwater. The largest portions of these plumes are migrating from the central Hanford Site to the southeast, toward the Columbia River. Concentrations of tritium, nitrate, and some other contaminants continued to exceed drinking water standards in groundwater discharging to the river in some locations. However, contaminant concentrations in river water remained low and were far below standards. Carbon tetrachloride and associated organic constituents form a relatively large plume beneath the central part of the Hanford Site. Hexavalent chromium is present in smaller plumes beneath the reactor areas along the river and beneath the central part of the site. Strontium-90 exceeds standards beneath all but one of the reactor areas, and technetium-99 and uranium are present in the 200 Areas. Uranium exceeds standards in the 300 Area in the south part of the Hanford Site. Minor contaminant plumes with concentrations greater than standards include carbon-14, cesium-137, cis-1,2-dichloroethene, cyanide, …

Application of two electrical resistivity methods at the Hanford Site Mock Tank during 2002, indicate the viability of the methods as possible leak-detection tools for SST retrieval operations. Electrical Resistivity Tomography and High-Resolution Resistivity were used over a 109-day period to detect leakage of a waste simulant beneath the tank. The results of the test indicate that both of these two methods, and subset methods may be applicable to SST leak detection.

This report presents results obtained from detailed hydrologic characterization of the unconfined aquifer system conducted at the Hanford Site.

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab or LBNL) is a multi-program national research facility operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy (DOE). As an integral element of DOE's National Laboratory System, Berkeley Lab supports DOE's missions in fundamental science, energy resources, and environmental quality. Berkeley Lab programs advance four distinct goals for DOE and the nation: (1) To perform leading multidisciplinary research in the computing sciences, physical sciences, energy sciences, biosciences, and general sciences in a manner that ensures employee and public safety and protection of the environment. (2) To develop and operate unique national experimental facilities for qualified investigators. (3) To educate and train future generations of scientists and engineers to promote national science and education goals. (4) To transfer knowledge and technological innovations and to foster productive relationships among Berkeley Lab's research programs, universities, and industry in order to promote national economic competitiveness. In FY03, Berkeley Lab was authorized by DOE to establish a funding ceiling for the LDRD program of $15.0 M, which equates to about 3.2% of Berkeley Lab's FY03 projected operating and capital equipment budgets. This funding level was provided to develop new scientific ideas and opportunities and …