SUMMARY OF THE REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT FORUM
PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS ACTION TEAM
STEERING COMMITTEE CONFERENCE CALL

3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
January 2, 2002

On Wednesday, January 2, 2002, the following members of the Remediation Technologies Development Forum's (RTDF's) Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRB) Action Team met in a conference call:

Bob Puls, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Action Team Co-chair)
Bruce Sass, Battelle
Tim Sivavec, General Electric Corporate Remediation
Stephen White, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Also participating in the call was Danielle Sass from Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG).

THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM PROPOSAL

The RTDF PRB Action Team plans to initiate a monitoring project to assess PRB performance. The group is in the process of outlining the project's scope and identifying funding sources. The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), which has been identified as a potential funding source, recently issued a call for proposals titled Diagnostic Procedures To Evaluate Remediation Performance at Chlorinated Solvent Contaminated Sites. Pre-proposals are due on January 10, 2002; the PRB Steering Committee plans to submit one. Prior to the conference call, Tim Sivavec distributed an outline for the pre-proposal. Conference call participants discussed the outline, suggested changes, and identified topics that still need to be addressed. Modifications and/or additions were recommended for the following areas of the proposal:

• List of sites. Much of the work outlined in the pre-proposal will take place in the field. The pre-proposal will list five candidate sites, and will indicate that field work is to be conducted at two or three of them. (The number chosen will depend on the availability of funding.) Call participants identified the following as candidate sites: the Alameda site, the Elizabeth City site, Denver Federal Center, the Somersworth Sanitary Landfill, and Seneca Army Depot.



• List of monitoring tools. Call participants agreed that the RTDF project should focus on geochemical parameters and ground-water flow and directional probes. Efforts will be made to identify more effective ways of deploying available tools. In-well chlorinated solvent sensors and new in-well sensors will not be included in the study. Bob Puls suggested studying hydrogen sensors, noting that an innovative device is currently under development. He agreed to learn more about this sensor and to incorporate information about it into the pre-proposal. Bruce Sass agreed to work with Battelle's Neeraj Gupta to write text that describes ground-water flow and directional probes. Sivavec will write text that describes diffusion samplers.



• Schematic. Sivavec will create a figure that shows the different components of the project, the key team members, and the deliverables and benefits expected.



• Timeline. Call participants decided that a two-year time period is needed to execute the proposed project. Sivavec suggested identifying the major tasks that will be accomplished and marking them on a timeline.



• Cost table. Call participants agreed that a preliminary cost estimate should be included in the pre-proposal. Puls thought that at least $100,000 would be needed to obtain equipment. Bruce Sass agreed to research the costs associated with specific monitoring devices. Sass will also talk to Chuck Reeter to find out whether cost sharing would be an option if the RTDF performed work at Department of Defense (DOD) sites.



• Appendix listing qualifications of key personnel. Sivavec said that the pre-proposal should include information on each team member's area of expertise and experience. He agreed to write up his own qualifications and to distribute this write-up as a template. Puls will be listed as the technical project leader; he will find out what level of background résumé information must be provided for this position.



• Attachments. Three pages of attachments can be included in the pre-proposal. Sivavec and Sass will prepare information for the attachments.



• List of the project team. Sivavec suggested listing "multiple DOD partners" under the list of project team members. He also suggested including logos for the agencies and organizations that will be involved. He agreed to send General Electric's logo to Puls.

Puls agreed to complete the pre-proposal and to submit it to SERDP. Sivavec and Sass will send information and materials for the proposal by January 4, 2002.

Puls will contact Liyuan Liang to determine whether Oak Ridge National Laboratory is still interested in participating in the RTDF's monitoring project.