A methodology for establishing cleanup objectives in the unsaturated soil zone using sensitivity and uncertainty analysis for chemical fate and transport

摘要

To support the Corrective-Measures and Cleanup-Alternatives Studies (CMS) prepared by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) in Portsmouth, Ohio, USA, a soil-leaching numerical analysis was conducted to help establish cleanup objectives for deep-soil contamination. For～60 pollutants that exist at the PORTS site, the study defined those deep-soil concentrations that would most likely not cause groundwater contamination in excess of USEnvironmental Protection Agency (USEPA) guidelines. These values were then used as the technical basis for defining soil-cleanup goals. Numerical modelling of environmental systems provided project managers with unique information that was not availablefrom other sources. With its ability to quantify the important aspects of problem physics, modelling allowed rapid accumulation of the physical insight needed to solve a problem in a systematic and focused manner. A numerical study conducted jointly bythe Oak Ridge National Laboratory and SAIC for the PORTS is presented.