Superfund Cleanup Effort Steams to Record Time

摘要

Using a process initially developed with funding from Livermore's Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, Southern California Edison has successfully cleaned up its Visalia Pole Yard. In September 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency removed the site from its National Priorities (Superfund) List. The Livermore-developed process combines dynamic underground stripping, which vaporizes contaminants, and hydrous pyrolysis/oxidation, which converts them to benign products such as carbon dioxide, chloride ions, and water. By introducing both heat and oxygen, the process effectively destroys all petroleum and solvent contaminants and cleans the groundwater to drinking water standards.