The Pantex Plant is a U.S. Department of Energy government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility first used by the Army in 1942. Located in the Texas Panhandle about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, the Pantex facility consists of 10,080 acres of DOE-owned land and 5,856 acres of land leased from Texas Tech University.
In 1949, the Atomic Energy Commission began operations at Pantex, followed by the Energy Research and Development Administration (1974) which became the Department of Energy in 1977. The primary purpose of Pantex is to assemble nuclear weapons. Other major activities include development and fabrication of high explosives (HE) for nuclear devices, disassembly of nuclear weapons, and maintenance, manufacture and repair of nuclear weapon components.
Pantex is situated on the Southern High Plains. Geologic formations consisting of sandy silt, gravel and clay are found below Pantex in the Pullman and Randall soil series. This vadose (unsaturated) zone overlies the Ogallala formation, which contains two regionally important water-bearing zones jointly referred to as the Ogalalla Aquifer. Sampling and production wells located on-site at Pantex draw water from depths ranging from 230' to 847'. During 1989, approximately 129 million gallons of water from the Ogalalla Aquifer was used for drinking water and industrial purposes at Pantex. Total population within a 50-mile radius of Pantex is approximately 250,000 residents.
Four decades of operations at Pantex have involved handling of uranium, plutonium, tritium, as well as a variety of toxic chemicals (Pantex Plant Site Environmental Report, 1989/DE91-007284). Contractors at Pantex used on-site methods for disposal of high-explosives, waste oil, solvents, and a variety of chemicals during this period. Commonly used methods included burial, burning, evaporation, and percolation into the soil. Landfills at the facility have received material such as asbestos, paint cans and drums, batteries, transformers, and chemical containers.
Development, processing and fabrication of high-explosives required large volumes of water. Effluent from these operations have been historically discharged to "Playa Lakes", naturally-occurring shallow depressions averaging 1 kilometer in size which collect rainfall and surface water runoff. At Pantex, most industrial effluent, wastewater treatment plant effluent, and surface drainage are discharged to ditches, most of which enter Playa Lakes 1 and 2. Although below State and federal levels, certain surface water samples taken from the Playa Lakes indicate two to three times the level of one measure of radiological contamination (suspended alpha and beta activity) two to three times the minimum and average from previous years (DE91-007284). Increases in tritium were measured in surface water at one location which were 10 times higher than at other sample locations. The direction of water flow in the soil below Pantex, (including the Playa Lakes, burn pits and landfills) is vertically downward until the water reaches the Ogallala aquifer.
Contamination of groundwater above federal standards for chromium has been detected in three monitoring wells adjacent to the production area and Playa Lake 1. Given the depth of these wells, (350' for OW-WR-20; 275'for well #OW-WR-45; and 230' for OW-WR-38), significant downward movement of contaminants into the Ogalalla aquifer has been confirmed. Sampling well OW-WR-20 indicate groundwater contamination with 1,2-Dichlorethane and two high-explosives (RDX and HMX). Samples taken from well OW-WR-45 also suggests trichlorethene contamination.
Other suspected sources of contamination at Pantex include the surface impoundment in Zone 5 (EPA RFA Number VSI#11), the former surface impoundment adjacent to Building 11-51 (VSI#13), subsurface leaching bed at FS 10 (VSI#136), the temporary high-explosives burn site (VSI#53), seepage basins 12-44 (VSI#135) and landfills VSI#68 A,B,C,D as well as those landfills and burial areas in Zones 10 and 7.
RKK, Ltd. can immediately install its CRYOCELL containment methodology to completely isolate the Playa Lakes and Burning Grounds areas, including individual waste trenches, burial pits, landfills, wells, or surface impoundments. All mixed and high level waste present at this site can be stopped from leaching further into surrounding soils and the Ogalalla aquifer. CRYOCELL is the only containment system available today that provides diffusion free, monitorable, full containment and isolation, that is removable and repairable in-situ. No other technology available today can compare to or provide these design standards for mixed or high level waste containment.
CRYOCELL engineering is site specific. RKK's Thermodynamic Modeling/Monitoring Program incorporates all site characteristics into a three dimensional model which RKK uses to design and estimate costs of CRYOCELL, and to develop a real-time computer image of barrier status throughout its life-cycle. RKK's modeling/monitoring program provides the ability to detect irregularities and quickly return the barrier to acceptable performance limits
A conservative total site cost for a CRYOCELL barrier fully containing the entire 3.5 acre Burning Grounds area for 30 years is estimated at $10,500,000. This barrier can be installed and fully functional within 12 months of a request to proceed. Installation cost per square foot for a CRYOCELL barrier isolating the various Playa Lakes contamination sources run at approxamately $13.53. Slurry Wall "containment" runs at an installation cost of $30.18. Slurry Wall "containment" cannot provide a bottom or provide diffusion free containment. Removal costs for Slurry Walls can exceed initial installation costs as they become contaminated over time, with as estimated cost of $42.60/sf. Removal costs of CRYOCELL run approxamately 10% to 15% of installation costs, or $2.05/sf.
RKK is poised to provide immediate containment of the entire Playa Lakes and Burning Grounds areas. Action now will halt further waste migration, and allow more time for development of remediation solutions to the serious environmental concerns in this area.