SUMMARY OF THE REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT FORUM
PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS ACTION TEAM STEERING COMMITTEE CONFERENCE CALL
May 19, 1997 11:00 a.m.–Noon
Members of the Permeable Reactive Barriers Action Team Steering Committee met in a one-hour conference call. The following members were present:
Bob Puls, Dale Schultz, Scott Warner, Liyuan Liang, Tim Sivavec, Stan Morrison, Rich Steimle, Bob Gillham.
Also present were Carolyn Perroni of Environmental Management Support, Inc., and Colin Devonshire of Eastern Research Group, Inc.
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Action Team will be on September 18 to 19 in Norfolk, VA. As suggested by Schultz, the preliminary agenda of the meeting is as follows:
September 18—Half of the day should be devoted to updates of ongoing research and field studies, presented primarily by members of the Steering Committee. The second half of the day will be tutorial in nature, focusing on issues of science, design, and emplacement technology to provide members of the Action Team with the latest information for use in site characterization and implementation of permeable reactive barrier (PRB) technology. Some time will also be set aside for presentations by other members of the Action Team.
September 19—A field trip to the U.S. Coast Guard Support Center study in Elizabeth City, NC. This trip should take approximately half the day and should end in time for members to catch late afternoon flights.
The co-chairs requested that by Friday, May 23, the members of the Steering Committee submit brief summaries of possible topics for presentation to the Action Team. The co-chairs will consider these topics for presentation through one of two forums: the Action Team meeting or the Web page newsletter. Schultz stressed that these proposals need not be polished and should be submitted quickly because the agenda of the September meeting should be distributed to the Action Team ASAP.
Puls described a proposed issue paper on PRB technology to be prepared by members of the Action Team for EPA. The target audience of this 20- to 30-page paper are those responsible for selection and implementation of remedial technology (e.g., consultants and EPA project managers); therefore, the paper will not be a design protocol but should provide the necessary information to allow an evaluation of the technology. The paper should address the following topics:
Several members of the Steering Committee and other members of the Action Team are already preparing the first draft of this paper, due by the end of July. The RTDF will eventually stamp this paper, so the Steering Committee will be called upon to review and comment on the upcoming draft.
INTERSTATE TECHNOLOGY AND REGULATORY COOPERATION (ITRC) WORK GROUP
Discussion of the EPA issue paper led to discussion of the ITRC paper in progress concerning PRB technology. This paper will provide information about PRB technology to state agencies for use in regulatory tasks such as evaluation and permitting. A first draft was distributed for comments and is currently in revision. Although the full Steering Committee did not receive the first draft, Schultz, Puls, and Warner did review and comment on the draft. Warner expressed concern that this document may have a large influence on the implementation of PRB technology in the future, and should be taken seriously by the Action Team. Warner stated, and the co-chairs and others agreed, that the Steering Committee should review and respond as an organization to the second draft of the paper in order to establish the RTDF as a presence and a resource for PRB technology. Schultz noted that the ITRC Work Group had been responsive to the comments of the co-chairs, and will be replacing the restrictive language of the first draft ("regulation") with less restrictive wording ("guidance" and "recommendation").
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware Schultz stated that the Dover project is progressing, albeit slowly. Dennis O'Sullivan has requested that the Dover Design Team meet in Norfolk on September 17, the day before the Action Team meeting, in order to devise the work plan.
Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pilot Study Morrison stated that the work plan had been updated so that the mandril wall is now scheduled for installation in late August, to be followed closely by installation of the jet grout wall. These walls will be installed side by side. A new location has been identified for the walls. Morrison and Schultz described the preliminary results of the jet grout demonstration as very positive. This project involved several injections to produce thin diaphragm and columnar walls. Jetting distances were greater than had been predicted. Two grout materials were used: 1) a mixture of iron and guar gum; and 2) a mixture of iron and kaolinite clay. Excavation and coring were later performed to analyze the morphology, penetration, and thickness of the walls. Experiments are currently being performed on the cores to determine characteristics including particle size fractionation, iron content, and permeability. Rich Landis will prepare a summary of the demonstration project for presentation in the newsletter or at the meeting.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Liang will submit a summary regarding three ongoing projects.
Steimle informed the Steering Committee that an unnamed concern is currently seeking to provide funding to demonstratable technologies for in situ remediation of ground water contaminated with DNAPL (both free-phase and solubilized, though possibly with a focus on free-phase). This concern is interested in identifying the best way to bring these technologies through the next step of development. This funding is available to public and private entities. Initial funding could be approximately $500,000. Steimle requested that the co-chairs prepare a 1- to 2-page statement of what is required to bring PRB technology to the next step of development. After a brief discussion, the Steering Committee compiled an initial list of issues which might be addressed in this statement:
It was pointed out that the Otis Air Force Base, Cape Cod, MA, project will proceed with hydraulic fracturing and will employ bore-hole radar probing as a possible emplacement verification technique; therefore this technique would not be a priority for this possible funding.
Schultz requested that a subgroup within the Steering Committee address this funding proposal over the next two days. Steimle stated that the proposal could be received by Thursday or Friday at the latest. After the conference call Puls, Schultz, and Sivavec were to speak further on possible topics of this statement; Gillham and Morrison may also provide assistance.
Puls informed the committee that updated information on the Elizabeth City study is now available through the EPA Web site. The address is www.epa.gov/ada/eliz.html. Perroni requested that any members with Web sites related to the Permeable Reactive Barriers Action Team should inform her so that they may establish links from the RTDF website. She would like the Action Team's Web page to have links to as much relevant information as possible.