Site characterization report for the Old Hydrofracture Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Several Old Hydrofracture Facility (OHF) structures (i.e., Building 7852, the bulk storage bins, the pump house, water tank T-5, and pump P-3) are surplus facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) slated for decontamination and decommissioning (D and D). OHF was constructed in 1963 to allow experimentation and operations with an integrated solids storage, handling, mixing, and grout injection facility. It was shut down in 1980 and transferred to ORNL`s Surveillance and Maintenance Program. The hydrofracture process was a unique disposal method that involved injecting waste materials mixed with grout and additives under pumping pressures of 2,000 psi or greater into a deep, low-permeability shale formation. The injected slurry spread along fractures and bedding planes for hundreds of feet from the injection points, forming thin grout sheets (often less than 1/8 in. thick). The grout ostensibly immobilized and solidified the liquid wastes. Site characterization activities were conducted in the winter and spring of 1994 to collect information necessary to plan the D and D of OHF structures. This site characterization report documents the results of the investigation of OHF D and D structures, presenting data from the field investigation and laboratory analyses in the form of a site description, as-built drawings, summary tables of radiological and chemical contaminant concentrations, and a waste volume estimate. 25 refs., 54 figs., 17 tabs