X-616 Chromium Sludge Lagoons pictorial overview, Piketon, Ohio. Environmental Restoration Program

摘要

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant uses large quantities of water for process cooling. The X-616 Liquid Effluent Control Facility was placed in operation in December 1976 to treat recirculation cooling water blowdown from the process cooling system. A chromium-based corrosion inhibitor was used in the cooling water system. A chromium sludge was produced in a clarifier to control chromium levels in the water. Chromium sludge produced by this process was stored in two surface impoundments called the X-616 Chromium Sludge Lagoons. The sludge was toxic due to its chromium concentration and therefore required treatment. The sludge was treated, turning it into a sanitary waste, and buried in an Ohio EPA approved landfill. The plant's process cooling water system has changed to a more environmentally acceptable phosphate-based inhibitor. Closure activities at X-616 began in August 1990, with all construction activities completed in June 1991, at a total cost of $8.0 million.