Remediation of Legacy Hazardous and Nuclear Industrial Sites: Perspectives from Hanford

Remediation of Legacy Hazardous and Nuclear Industrial Sites provides an overview of the key elements involved in remediating complex waste sites using the Hanford nuclear site as a case study. Hanford is one of the most complex waste sites in the world and has examples of most, if not all, characteristics of the complex waste sites that exist globally. This book is aimed at a non-technical audience and describes the stages of remediation based on general RCRA/CERCLA processes, from establishing a strategy that includes all stakeholders to site assessment, waste treatment and disposal, and long-term monitoring.

Features:

• Informs a non-technical audience of the important elements involved in complex waste site remediation
• Employs the Hanford Site as a case study throughout to explain real-world applications of remediation steps
• Connects the ＂human＂ element to the technical aspects through interviews with key current and retired individuals at the Hanford Site
• Includes discussion of stakeholders and the engagement process in remediation
• Demonstrates how all elements of complex waste site remediation from demolition of buildings to groundwater management are interrelated
• Focuses on broader technical and sociopolitical challenges for remediation of a contaminated site

Aimed at a broad audience, this book offers approachable guidance to technical and non-technical readers through a series of real-world examples that cover each important step in the complex waste cleanup process.

Dr. Stuart Arm is a senior technical advisor who returned to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2019 after 12 years working in industry. Dr. Arm holds a PhD and MEng in chemical engineering from Imperial College, London, and has 30 years’ experience in national laboratories and the nuclear industry in the United Kingdom and United States. He establishes PNNL and DOE strategic plans and objectives for radiochemical process flowsheets and technologies for treating and managing radioactive waste and commercial used nuclear fuel while acknowledging emerging national and international trends. Dr. Arm employs a collaborative and leading approach to technology and flowsheet maturation and integration to establish implementation strategies with multi-technical and organizational elements.

Dr. Hilary Emerson’s research focuses on fate and remediation of radionuclides with experimental testing from the laboratory to the field scale. She holds a BS in Environmental Engineering (2009) from the University of Central Florida, USA and a PhD in Environmental Engineering and Earth Science (2014) from Clemson University, USA. Since joining Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2019, her work has focused primarily on development of new remediation technologies for radionuclides and techniques for monitoring remediation technologies.