A Methodology for Establishing Cleanup Objectives in the Unsaturated Soil Zone Using Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis for Chemical Fate and Transport

Abstract

To support the Corrective-Measures and Cleanup-Alternatives Studies (CMS) prepared by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) in Portsmouth, Ohio, a soil-leaching numerical analysis was conducted to help establish cleanup objectives for deep-soil contamination. For approximately 60 pollutants that exist at the PORTS site, the study defined those deep-soil concentrations that would most likely not cause groundwater contamination in excess of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) guidelines. These values were then used as the technical basis for defining soil-cleanup goals. Numerical modeling of environmental systems provides project managers with unique information that is not available from other sources. With its ability to quantify the important aspects of problem physics, modeling allows one to rapidly accumulate the physical insight needed to solve a problem in a systematic and focused manner. This increased understanding acquired ...