Soil washing as a potential remediation technology for contaminated DOE sites

Frequently detected contaminants at US Department of Energy (DOE) sites include radionuclides, heavy metals, and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Remediation of these sites requires application of several technologies used in concert with each other, because no single technology is universally applicable. Special situations, such as mixed waste, generally require innovative technology development. This paper, however, focuses on contaminated soils, for which soil washing and vitrification technologies appear to have wide ranging application potential. Because the volumes of contaminated soils around the DOE complex are so large, soil washing can offer a potentially inexpensive way to effect remediation or to attain waste volume reduction. As costs for disposal of low-level and mixed wastes continue to rise, it is likely that volume-reduction techniques and in-situ containment techniques will become increasingly important. This paper reviews the status of the soil washing technology, examines the systems that are currently available, and discusses the potential application of this technology to some DOE sites, with a focus on radionuclide contamination and, primarily, uranium-contaminated soil