Department of Energy Speakers Series – Groundwater Monitoring and Remediation

Michael Cline, Division Director
Soil and Groundwater Division
Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office

Mr. Cline’s lecture will focus on the current sampling and monitoring program on the Hanford Site along with the groundwater remediation that is being performed. He will also discuss the process for selecting the remedy to be implemented.
The Hanford Site, part of the DOE nuclear weapons complex, encompasses about 580 square miles along the Columbia River in southeastern Washington State. During World War II and the Cold War period the government built and operated nine nuclear reactors for the production of plutonium and other nuclear materials.

During reactor operations, chemical and radioactive wastes were released into the environment and contaminated the soil and groundwater beneath portions of the Hanford Site.
Since 1989, using its authority under CERCLA, DOE has worked to remediate this contamination.

Over the lifetime of the Hanford Site, DOE has installed and maintained thousands of wells to monitor and remediate groundwater and provide geologic data.

This event is free and open to the public.