An innovative biological treatment technology successfully reduced plutonium concentration in soil from the Nevada Test Site (NTS) by over 80%. The final volume of plutonium-contaminated material that required disposal was reduced by over 90%. These results, achieved by an independent testing laboratory, confirm the results reported previously using NTS soil. In the previous test a 2530-gram sample of soil (350 to 400 pCi/g Pu resulted in production of 131 grams of sludge (6,320 pCi/ g Pu) and a treated soil containing 72 pCi/g of Pu. The technology is based on the biological acidification of the soil and subsequent removal of the plutonium and other dissolved metals by a low volume, low energy water leaching process. The leachate is treated in a sulfate-reducing bioreactor to precipitate the metals as metal sulfides. Water may be recycled as process water or disposed since the treatment process removes over 99% of the dissolved metals including plutonium from the water. The plutonium is contained as a stable sludge that can be containerized for final disposal. Full-scale process costs have been developed which employ widely used treatment technologies such as aerated soil piles (biopiles) and bioreactors. The process costs were less than $10 per cubic foot, which were 40 to 50% lower than the baseline costs for the treatment of the NTS soil. The equipment and materials for water and sludge treatment and soil handling are commercially available.
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