A graded approach to flow and transport modeling to support decommissioning activities at the Savannah river site

A graded approach to flow and transport modeling has been used as a cost effective solution to evaluating potential groundwater risk in support of Deactivation and Decommissioning activities at the United States Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, South Carolina. This approach balances modeling complexity with potential risk and has been successfully used at SRS to reduce costs and accelerate schedule without compromising human health or the environment. The approach incorporates both simple spreadsheet calculations (i.e., screening models) and complex numerical modeling to evaluate the threat to human health posed by contaminants leaching from decommissioned concrete building slabs. Simple spreadsheet calculations were used to produce generic slab concentration limits for a suite of radiological and non-radiological contaminants for a chemical separations area at SRS. These limits, which are based upon the United States Environmental Protection Agency Soil Screening Guidance, were used to eliminate most building slabs from further risk assessment, thereby limiting the time and associated cost of the more rigorous assessment to higher risk facilities. Of the more than 58 facilities located in the area, to date only one slab has been found to have a contaminant concentration in excess of the area specific slab limit. For this slab, a more rigorous numerical modeling effort was undertaken which eliminated some of the simplifying and conservative assumptions inherent in the spreadsheet calculations. Results from the more sophisticated numerical model show that the remaining contaminant of concern would not likely impact groundwater above drinking water standards.