Response to Congressional inquiry regarding seepage basins at the Savannah River Site, United States Department of Energy Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina

This report has been prepared in response to the request by the House Appropriations Committee to address the permanent isolation and containment/removal of the contaminants associated with the seepage basins at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Many of the activities regarding groundwater monitoring and status referred to in this report will be discussed in detail in a companion report on the Groundwater Monitoring Program at the SRS (WSRC-RP-89-889). Seepage Basins are broadly defined as excavated, unlined earthen basins designed to receive and store, treat, or recharge various liquid waste streams. Not included in this report are basins containing only non-hazardous, non-radioactive constituents, such as ash basins. Fifty-four basins are discussed in this report, forty of which are inactive. Five of the remaining fourteen active basins are coal pile runoff basins, one is an ash basin that also receives coal rejects, and the remaining eight are reactor seepage basins. The Department of Energy--Savannah River (DOE-SR) has notified the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) of its intent to apply for National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits for the direct discharge of disassembly basin purge water. One the permits are issued the reactor basins will be taken out of service. All of the basins discussed in this report will be remediated under Federal and/or State regulatory environmental programs. 43 figs., 6 tabs.