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Breadcrumb

  1. Research
  2. Energy Resiliency
  3. Environmental Management
  4. Environmental Remediation

Environmental
Remediation

Advancing Hanford soil
and groundwater cleanup
with technical solutions

PNNL researchers developed time-lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) to monitor groundwater remediation performance in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site. ERT technology allows PNNL researchers and members of the project team to monitor the subsurface migration of an injected phosphate amendment in real time.  In collaboration with Hanford Site contractor CHPRC, the team is now injecting a phosphate chemical solution to enhance remediation of groundwater and soil contaminated with uranium.  PNNL’s ERT monitoring capability is instrumental in evaluating the performance of Hanford remediation activities such as this.

Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

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PNNL has been providing technical solutions for more than 50 years to help address one of the nation's most complicated environmental situations: the safe cleanup of legacy waste resulting from nuclear weapons development and nuclear energy research.

By integrating scientific understanding with applied engineering, PNNL helps develop and implement technologies that protect people and the environment from the risks of contamination. Our core environmental remediation competencies—in the nature and extent of contamination, remedial design, remedial systems engineering, and end states—provide an understanding of how contaminants will behave in the environment. 

Multidisciplinary science and engineering

PNNL’s science-based and risk-informed solutions offer the technical defensibility and objectivity in the management of DOE's nuclear legacy. Our diverse expertise includes subsurface science, the deep vadose zone, nuclear chemistry, earth systems science, environmental engineering, risk and decision science, imaging and modeling, characterizing contaminants, assessing contaminant transport, and ecological restoration.

As an enduring research partner, PNNL’s depth of scientific and technical expertise remains crucial to Hanford cleanup and supports similar work at other contaminated DOE sites.

Recent News

DECEMBER 11, 2020
Staff Accomplishment

Bruce Kay Elected as Trustee for AVS Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processes

Read
Bruce Kay
NOVEMBER 17, 2020
Web Feature

Ironing Out Technetium Contamination

Read
Iron and technetium
SEPTEMBER 25, 2020
Staff Accomplishment

PNNL Statistician Honored with Career Award

Read
Greg Piepel PNNL
SEE MORE RELATED NEWS

Related Capabilities

Environmental Subsurface Science
Advanced Computer Science, Visualization, & Data
Earth Systems Science & Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Decision Science & Analysis
SEE ADDITIONAL CAPABILITIES

Related Research

Materials Science Subsurface Science Waste Processing Radiological & Nuclear Detection

Facilities

Radiochemical Processing Laboratory Applied Process Engineering Laboratory Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory 318 Building

Related Links

E4D: PNNL's 3D electrical resistivity software for subsurface imagingSTOMP (Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases) computer analytics toolPNNL-Hanford Online ENvironmental Information eXchange (PHOENIX)Oil spill response research at PNNL's Marine Sciences Laboratory

Brochures

File

PNNL_Subsurface_Capabilities.pdf

File

PNNL_Support_To_Hanford_Environmental_Remediation.pdf

File

PNNL_Environmental_Restoration_and_Protection_Capabilities.pdf

Contact

Dawn Wellman, Ph.D.
Director, Earth Systems Science Division
Dawn.Wellman@pnnl.gov
509-375-2017

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