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DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A 1000-YEAR EVAPOTRANSPIRATION-CAPILLARY SURFACE BARRIER
Zhang, S.F., C.E. Strickland, and S.O. Link.
Journal of Environmental Management 187:31-42(2017)

Although surface barrier technology is used to isolate radioactive waste and to reduce or eliminate recharge water to the waste zone for 1000 years or longer, the extremely long design life is a tremendous design and evaluation challenge. The Prototype Hanford Barrier (PHB) was constructed in 1994 over an existing waste site as a demonstration. The barrier was tested to evaluate its design and performance at field scale under conditions of enhanced and natural precipitation and no vegetation. Monitoring data demonstrated that the barrier satisfied nearly all objectives over the past two decades. The PHB far exceeded the RCRA criteria, functioned in Hanford's semiarid climate, limited drainage to well below the 0.5 mm/yr performance criterion, limited runoff, and minimized erosion and bio-intrusion. The exposed subgrade receives protection against erosion, and institutional controls prevent inadvertent human activity at the barrier. Given the two-decade record of successful performance and consideration of the processes and mechanisms that could affect barrier stability and hydrology in the future, the PHB shows promise that it will be able to perform for its 1000-year design life. See the 123-page 2016 PHB performance report at https://clu-in.org/download/techfocus/et/ET-cover-DOE-RL-2016-37.pdf and its appendices (A through R), most of which are individual papers, at https://clu-in.org/download/techfocus/et/ET-cover-apps-DOE-RL-2016-37.pdf.



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